Alex Trelinski
FOUR British and Norwegian men have been arrested for running a gang that produced fake ID cards to rip-off phone companies and banks.
Six people- mainly women of Irish nationality- were also arrested by the Policia Nacional for acting as ‘mules’ to supply their images used in the bogus cards.
The gang leaders were detained at Cabo Roig on the Orihuela Costa and in the Mar Menor area at Los Urrutias.
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Authorities said that multiple scams were committed by the group across Spain, but did not say how much money they made.
Investigations into the crew started after a series of similar frauds were reported.
The gang obtained original DNI identity card images which were modified by computer technology and superimposed the photo of another person on the altered DNI:
The forged DNI was then used to to carry out different types of fraud ranging from registering phone contracts to getting credit card accounts.
The police said the network operated in a hierarchical and staggered structure, with one of the arrested men running all the operations and deciding which type of fraud to carry out with each document at any given time.
Another gang member focused on getting targets by obtaining phone cards or documents to take over the identities of victims.
Officers discovered detailed instructions for obtaining personal information by deception along with lists of people who would have their identity usurped.
Another member of the group recruited people who allowed their image to be used in false documents, creating accounts or phone lines to use the identity of other people.
Irish women were mainly used for this task, who were paid for their cooperation.
Home searches uncovered USB memory sticks with images of original DNI cards and images on modified cards.
Officers seized 28 mobile phones many of them high-end, 1,200 phone cards, €2,350 in cash, two high-end watches, as well as other electronic devices and a quantity of drugs.
