A gang scammed 3 million euros from 500 people selling cars online that did not exist

The National Police and the Civil Guard, within the framework of the Farquad-Fallout-Ámbar operations, have dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to fraud in the sale of vehicles over the internet.

A gang scammed 3 million euros from 500 people selling cars online that did not exist

The National Police and the Civil Guard, within the framework of the Farquad-Fallout-Ámbar operations, have dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to fraud in the sale of vehicles over the internet. It is estimated that they could have obtained almost 3 million euros from 500 buyers who never saw their cars. Because they didn't even exist.

The investigation began in February 2021 in Brihuega (Guadalajara), following the complaint of one of the victims, who had paid a deposit for the vehicle and never received it.

At the same time, another similar case arrived at the Central Madrid police station. It was found that the plot, directed by Romanians (although there are Spaniards and a Colombian among those arrested), advertised all kinds of cars, motorhomes, motorcycles and tractors on a website designed for that purpose and offered them for sale by auction method. .

When the interested party agreed, he offered an amount of money for the tourism he wanted to acquire and after a few days an 'alleged person in charge' of the page contacted the interested party informing him that he had won the bid, after paying an amount of money that he had to enter into an account provided to the buyer.

Once the victim deposited the money, the communication was cut off and he never received the offered vehicle. In the course of this laborious investigation, more than 20 websites that this organization used to commit scams were tracked.

Likewise, the police detected a wide and complex network of current accounts, opened both in Spain and in other countries in the name of third parties with false or usurped identities. Illicitly obtained money was continuously moved in these accounts, with the intention of erasing its trail and making it difficult to locate it.

The final destination used to be current accounts opened in third countries of the European Union, a fact that made the investigation work of the agents extremely difficult.

Searches were carried out in Coslada and El Escorial, where 13 people were arrested and another 16 investigated, also locating a large number of telephone cards, mobile phones, computer equipment and abundant documentation that continues to be analyzed today. the researchers.

The leaders of the organization, two individuals of Romanian origin, took many security measures and masked their activity on the Internet to make it difficult to identify them. They also spent long periods abroad for the same purpose and enjoyed a high standard of living since they bought luxury items with the money they earned.

With the dismantling of this criminal group, the National Police has managed to dismantle an organization that had been operating in Spain since 2019, during which time they would have committed countless criminal acts.

Only in scams, they exceed 300 crimes carried out throughout the national territory, resulting in about 500 victims being affected, estimating the amount defrauded around two million euros.

Those arrested have been handed over to the judicial authority as allegedly responsible for the crimes of criminal organization, document falsification and usurpation of marital status.

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