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Granada
Tuesday, 8 April 2025, 14:03
The Guardia Civil and the National Police forces in Spain have arrested six people aged between 34 and 57 years belonging to a criminal organisation that would have swindled more than 19 million euros to 208 victims through false investments in cryptocurrencies.
The investigation, codenamed Operation Coinblack - Wendimine, has been carried out in different locations in Granada and Alicante provinces. The officers searched the home of the main leader of the organisation in Spain, who was preparing to travel to Dubai, and seized numerous mobile phones, computers, hard drives, a simulated weapon and abundant documentation.
The police operation began two years ago when a man in Andalucía's Granada province reported that he had been swindled out of 624,000 euros. The officers discovered the scheme that linked the criminal organisation to investments in cryptocurrencies that turned out to be false. The investigation also took place in Alicante.
The organisation posted advertisements on different websites as a hook related to cryptocurrency investments with well-known personalities. Moreover, the victims were not selected at random, but rather, through algorithms, they selected those people whose profile matched what the cybercriminals were looking for.
Once they had selected their victims, the gang inserted AI-generated videos featuring well-known personalities on the websites or social media and offered them investments in cryptocurrencies with high profitability and no possibility of loss, investments that obviously turned out to be a scam.
The cybercriminals gained their trust by posing as financial advisors, and sent them false information via fake websites with fictitious returns. They encouraged them to transfer all the money they had in their accounts to cryptocurrencies. When the victims decided to withdraw the money they had invested, the obstacles and impediments began, at which point they realised they had been scammed.
After a while, the cybercriminals would contact the victims again, pretending to be responsible for the investments and confirming that the money had been blocked, that it was possible to recover it, but that in order to unblock it they would have to make a new deposit, often for a significant amount.
The victims received communications from supposed Europol agents or fake lawyers in the United Kingdom, telling them that they had managed to recover their money and that all that was missing was the payment of the taxes corresponding to the country where it was blocked. Once again, in the belief that this time they would recover their investment, they agreed to pay the supposed taxes.
The arrests were made in Torrevieja, Santa Pola and Villajoyosa. They are all charged with fraud, money laundering and falsification of documents in a criminal organisation. They were placed at the disposal of a court in Alicante. The investigation is still open.
The operation, under the direction of the Delegate Prosecutor for Technological Crimes in Granada, has been carried out jointly by the Technological Crimes Investigation Team (EDITE) of the Judicial Police Unit of the Guardia Civil in Granada, and by the Unit against Immigration Networks and Documentary Falsifications (UCRIF-3) of the National Police in Alicante.
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