140 million euros in fraud Spain disintegrates a transnational network
The Spanish police announced that they have succeeded in dismantling a high-risk international criminal organization, specialized in transcontinental electronic fraud and money laundering, which targeted several European countries and succeeded in seizing huge sums estimated at about 140 million euros, in a coordinated security operation that took place with close international cooperation and direct support from the major security agencies "Europol" and "Interpol".
European media reported that the simultaneous security strike resulted in the arrest of four of the network's most prominent leaders and suspects, with two of them arrested in Portugal, a third in Spain, and a fourth in Panama.
The detainees face heavy charges related to running fake investment platforms, impersonating company executives, issuing fake invoices, as well as carrying out sophisticated "Man in the Middle" cyberattacks to seize money orders.
Shell Companies and "Mules of Money": Map of Financial Flows
According to Spanish sources, the threads of the case began to unfold after the security services monitored suspicious commercial activity that appeared to be legitimate and legal, but the surveillance and auditing of records and the tracking of bank accounts, in addition to the legal eavesdropping on communications, revealed that the facility is just a cover for a major money laundering network that operates 19 commercial companies and is led by 9 people.
The sources pointed out that in order to obscure the features of the crime, the organization created a very complex financial structure that included more than 800 bank accounts and 120 fake companies, in which the victims' money was deposited before being circulated through a series of successive transfers to obliterate its source.
Investigations revealed that the volume of recently monitored inflows exceeded €94 million, in addition to another €61 million that the network had seized during 2024 by impersonating executives to demand urgent financial transfers.
The sources revealed that to move these wealth, the gang recruited 67 European citizens, known in cybercrime literature as "money mules", who were shipped to Spain to establish companies and open bank accounts in different regions despite not actually residing in the country.
International raids: from Barcelona to Porto and Panama
The first phase of the field pursuit began by carrying out 6 extensive raids and searches in the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Girona, and Tarragona, all the way to the Portuguese city of Porto, where the main suspect fled last February, which necessitated the issuance of urgent European arrest and extradition warrants against him and his accomplice's right to coordinate with Lisbon.
The mastermind responsible for managing the financial structure and the fraud office fled between several capitals before settling in Panama, where he was joined by a third suspect last March, who oversaw the management of the "money mules" in the Catalan region, where Interpol, in cooperation with the Spanish consulate and the police in Panama, succeeded in overthrowing them together.
Following the raids, investigators seized 170 smartphones and 15 computers used to manage thousands of remittances, with 3 million euros frozen as a first step to return them to victims, amid Spanish assurances that the organization would be completely dismantled and its international reach ended in mid-July.