Alex Trelinski
THE Guardia Civil has arrested 102 people across Spain for a phone app scam asking victims to make bank transfers of between €800 and €55,000 to children in distress.
The gang used WhatsApp to swindle over a total of at least €850,000 from 238 victims in Alicante province alone.
Over 500 bank accounts of different entities were used by the fraudsters to transfer money made from the scams and more than 100 phone lines were registered under bogus identities to commit the fraud via WhatsApp.
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Arrests were carried out over three phases between February and April in Granada, Malaga, Valencia, Madrid, Alicante, Barcelona, and Girona.
The gang consisted of 74 men and 28 women between the ages of 20 and 60.
They have been charged with fraud, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organisation.
The criminals exploited the trust of victims by researching online profiles of victims to see if they had a child studying studying abroad or travelling.
They then contacted their target via WhatsApp, pretending to be their son or daughter and said they were using a different phone number because they had a problem with their normal phone.
Conversations began with a personal greeting, creating an instant emotional connection after which started sending urgent messages to provoke a reaction from parents.
Once the parents were lured in, they were told there’s a problem that needs solving involving money but they cannot access their bank account.
Victims were then asked to make an urgent transfer to the bank account number supplied by the bogus offspring.
Such was the quality of the deception, the scammers in most cases managed to get their targets to make regular transfers of large amounts of money to them.
One victim made several transfers totalling €55,000.
The Guardia Civil said the criminal group laundered the stolen money by making payments in all types of shops and making cash withdrawals at ATMs.
