GEORGE V MAGAZINE
|
Neubauer Artists LLC Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
The police operation, called ‘Hiwaso’, has been carried out in the provinces of Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Granada, Madrid, Málaga and Valencia The detainees had obtained large amounts of money between 800 and 55,000 euros by posing as a family member and being in a complicated situation needing money immediately.
The police operation, called ‘Hiwaso’, has been carried out by the Alicante Civil Guard Team with the collaboration of the Telematic Crimes Team and the Urban Crimes Team, and has ended with the arrest of a total of 102 people spread across the provinces of Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Granada, Madrid, Málaga and Valencia, which have been made available to the Investigative Court of Torrevieja.
The police operation, called ‘Hiwaso’, has been carried out by the Alicante Civil Guard Team with the collaboration of the Telematic Crimes Team and the Urban Crimes Team, and has ended with the arrest of a total of 102 people spread across the provinces of Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Granada, Madrid, Málaga and Valencia, which have been made available to the Investigative Court of Torrevieja.
In its investigation, the Armed Institute has located a network that would have defrauded at least 850,000 euros from 238 people in the province of Alicante alone with the help of more than 500 bank accounts from different entities used by the fraudsters to transfer the money from the scams. . More than 100 telephone lines registered to commit fraud through mobile messaging have also been analyzed.
The first complaints were received at the end of 2022 in the province of Alicante. In them, the victims reported that the perpetrators had managed to defraud them of large amounts of money (between 800 and 55,000 euros) by posing as a family member and being in a complicated situation needing money immediately.
The authors gave clear and specific instructions to facilitate the transfer of funds using the immediate transfer method, without return, which allowed the money to be obtained immediately. The Civil Guard has verified that the criminal group laundered the stolen money by making payments in all types of businesses and with cash withdrawals at ATMs. The authors operated throughout Spain. Once the suspects were located, the exploitation of the operation began, which had to be carried out in several phases given its magnitude.
In a first phase carried out in February 2024, 12 people were arrested in Granada and 29 in Malaga. Between February and March, two people were arrested in Alicante, three in Valencia and 13 in Madrid. Finally, in the third phase at the end of April, 35 people were arrested in Barcelona and another eight in Girona. The organization was made up of 74 men and 28 women between the ages of 20 and 60 . They are charged with the crimes of fraud, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization.
How The ‘Son In Distress’ Scam Works
According to the Civil Guard, the ‘son in trouble’ scam consists of exploiting the trust of the victims, who are manipulated to get money. First, they study the profile of potential harmed people, with the common factor of having an emancipated child, studying abroad or traveling. They then contact their target via a well-known mobile messaging application, posing as their son or daughter. To justify the phone number from which they contact is not the usual one, they claim that they have a problem with their phone.
The conversations begin with a personal greeting, creating an instant emotional connection after which they convey the urgency with messages of desperation that provoke a protective reaction from the parents. Once their attention has been captured and trust has been established, they tell them that they have a problem that has arisen that they must resolve immediately and for which they need a payment at that very moment but cannot access their bank account. For this reason, they need the victim to make an urgent transfer to the account number that the false children provide them. The power of conviction of the scammers is such that in most cases they get the victim to make continuous transfers of large amounts of money.
About The Author
