The National Police have arrested 40 people who are being investigated for being part of a structure that funded the Trinitarian youth gang, which they say has used them to collect more than 700,000 euros. According to the investigation, the criminal organization used hacking tools (computer hacking) to scam money to pay their legal fees, pay gang fees, or buy drugs to later resell them.
The police gave this Tuesday the details of the operation, during which they searched homes in the provinces of Madrid, Seville and Guadalajara, intruding numerous computer devices, in addition to instruments to open doors, lockpicks or related literature. This group is one of the most active Latino gangs whose main rival is the Dominican Don’t Play (DDP).
Among the 40 detainees are two hackers and 15 members of the violent group. All are accused of membership in a criminal organization, bank fraud, document forgery, identity theft and money laundering. Police have uncovered lists of more than 300,000 banking company customers and 53 cards with the names of the victims.
The investigation, conducted by the Central Cybercrime Unit and the Provincial Information Brigade of Madrid, began when agents discovered that some members of the gang were using other people’s bank cards to purchase virtual currencies. In addition, some of their leaders used computer tools to send mobile messages (SMS) posing as banks to obtain personal information from their victims and request loans on their behalf.
These SMS were sent en masse to bank customer lists. In it, they drew the recipients’ attention to an alleged security problem in their account, which they could solve using the link attached to them and which was fraudulent. When they tricked the victim into entering this normally secret personal information, they were directed to a simulated website and from that moment on they used their passwords to request quick loans or link their credit cards to virtual wallets.
According to the investigation, the withdrawn money was used to pay the legal fees of the members in prison; to pay membership fees for gangs; to buy drugs which they later resold to fund the band’s meetings and parties; or to buy guns. According to investigators, investigators had an extensive network of people who agreed to receive money via bank transfer and withdraw money through ATMs. To get the money off the cards, they also contracted point-of-sale terminals (data phones) on behalf of fictitious cosmetic product companies and simulated purchases.
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Another part of the stolen money was transferred to bank accounts abroad or invested in real estate in the Dominican Republic. Agents are now attempting to locate all of these assets through international police cooperation mechanisms.