Overview
- Policía Nacional traced a €216,839 fraud against a woman in Almería to an alleged network of eight people, arresting four suspects in Alicante.
- The victim met a fake Facebook profile in 2022 that claimed work on an Italian oil platform and a need for funds to return to France, sending periodic transfers over three years.
- Investigators reconstructed the money trail through 18 bank accounts, some overseas, with rapid hops, cash withdrawals at ATMs, seven fictitious identities and the use of bank mules.
- In the Guardia Civil’s Guimaraes operation, nine people were investigated after a complaint in Gáldar, with analysis widened from 22 to 57 accounts and 30 phone lines, and several accounts were judicially blocked to preserve funds.
- Laundering included payments of legitimate invoices for wine and construction materials routed to West Africa, especially Nigeria, with links detected to other cyberfrauds such as Man in the Middle; both probes remain open with charges including fraud, money laundering, document falsification and criminal organization.