The National Police have dismantled an international criminal organization that defrauded companies of more than four million euros. In total, 64 people have been arrested for belonging to a criminal organization, fraud, money laundering and computer access.
The alleged perpetrators committed fraud through the modus operandi known as BEC (Business Email Compromise) and produced the attacks from Nigeria, the country where they sent the money obtained illegally. His victims were members of the administration departments and executive directors of companies.
The investigation, which began as a result of a complaint by a Spanish company that was defrauded of more than 320,000 dollars for a transfer not received after services provided to a company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has brought to light an extensive network of bank mules in Spain for the reception of illicit transfers.
The leadership of the organization in our country, made up of three individuals, has already been made available to the National Court. Thanks to the steps taken by the agents, more than 600,000 euros have been blocked preventively.
The method they used to commit crimes was Business Email Compromise. Cybercriminals accessed corporate emails and obtained confidential information from companies, their client portfolio or economic transactions pending payment.
Immediately afterwards, through email attacks, they usurped the corporate identity of these companies before the clients and the financial entities with which they had commercial agreements, achieving the payment of invoices and transactions of large amounts of money to bank accounts that the organization had under your control.
In total, 79 people have been investigated who made their bank accounts available to cybercriminals, where they had received more than four million euros. 64 of them have been arrested. In addition, four mobile terminals were seized and nearly 200 bank accounts were investigated.
