The Civil Guard, within the framework of Operation NITRIMAX, has proceeded to arrest four people and investigate another belonging to a criminal organization dedicated to carrying out online scams with the sale of sanitary material. According to details, the investigation began in Lanzarote, when a businessman from the Island reported a scam of more than 9,000 euros in the online purchase of masks and hydroalcoholic gels.
Apparently, they sold the sanitary products through various online buying and selling websites and, after gaining the trust of their victims by sending samples of products and documentation such as "proforma invoice" in the name of real companies, they managed to receive payment for the products offered, which they never sent to the injured parties.
Likewise, to avoid their identification, the Civil Guard details that they created a network of true identities usurped from immigrants and nationals to mask their true identity. In addition, they made use of real companies and falsified documentation of these to give the appearance of legality to the alleged offers of products through the internet, thus achieving sufficient deception on their victims.
In addition, they took advantage of the existing shortage to offer essential sanitary products.
The perpetrators are attributed the alleged authorship of numerous crimes of fraud, identity theft, document forgery by offering sanitary products and air conditioning equipment through the internet, posing as real companies, managing to swindle up to 22,000 euros so far.
After analyzing the data obtained at the national level, the agents also managed to locate in the provinces of Melilla and Alicante several injured parties scammed with the sale of air conditioning equipment that followed the same "modus operandi".
Exploitation phase, arrests and searches in Madrid and Bilbao
Although this scam was initially detected on the island of Lanzarote and the alleged perpetrators carried out this network in an itinerant manner between the provinces of Madrid and Bizkaia, the tracking carried out by the Civil Guard of the economic movement generated by the scam, together with the analysis of the means, contacts and bank accounts used by the criminal group for the commission of the scams, would lead to locating the alleged perpetrators in Madrid and Bilbao.
There, 3 entries and searches were carried out in which numerous computer devices, mobile phones, identity documents, among others, were seized.
So far, the analysis of the devices and documentation seized continues, and the Civil Guard subsequently located "new victims and members of the criminal group", since the result of the initial analysis contemplated the possibility of opening an investigation with other countries of the European Union and South America, with the aim of knowing the final destination of part of the capital swindled from the victims.
The operation has been carried out by the People-EDITE Team of the Organic Unit of Judicial Police (UOPJ) of the Las Palmas Command with the collaboration of the Citizen Security Unit (USECIC) of the Tres Cantos Command (Madrid), the Main Post of Tres Cantos (Madrid), the Organic Unit of Judicial Police and the Reserve Nucleus of the Bizkaia Command.