November 7, 2023.- The Civil Guard of Valladolid in the framework of operation “MALETEDA” has managed to dismantle a criminal organization made up of 9 people, of foreign nationalities and resident in Barcelona and Valencia, as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of fraud, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization carried out by the “timo of the suitcase”.
The Civil Guard began the investigation last July of 2022 when a complaint was received at the Main Post of Laguna de Duero, from a person who the organization managed to cheat with this method more than 900 € through different transfers and money shipments through “Bizum”, to supposedly recover the luggage of a friend who was detained in Canada.
As a result of the investigation, it was known that similar events were taking place in other places of Spanish territory, suspecting the investigators, that behind it could be a perfectly hierarchical criminal organization specialized in this type of scams to individuals, known as the method of the “timo of the suitcase”.
The origin of the scam began with the receipt of a series of text messages on the victim’s phone in which the scammers impersonated a family member or friend of the victim in distress abroad and with bags immobilised at airports.
Some of the localized victims received through the messages images of photographs of the alleged retained suitcases, as well as images of the identification card of a supposed worker of the airline with which the family member or friend traveled. On some occasions the victims received international telephone calls from various telephone numbers, from a person who claimed to be the airline employee involved in the flight.
All this in order to generate sufficient credibility in the victim regarding the alleged incident with the suitcases
From that moment they requested money shipments to unlock the baggage for bank transfers or 'Bizum' shipments to accounts and phone numbers. Once the money was in the hands of the organization, cash withdrawals were made, at ATMs or bank transfers were made to other components to make it difficult to trace the money, to finally be delivered to their leaders.
To get to know the information of people who were traveling, the organization used social engineering (a set of techniques that cybercriminals use for various purposes, among them, obtain data and personal information of users and with them build a credible story that sustains the deception and adapt the scam to the particular characteristics of each victim), and the tracking of social networks, also used viruses that allowed them to monitor conversations.
To date, they have managed to defraud more than €30,000 to twenty-three victims, without the researchers ruling out that there are more victims who have not filed a complaint.
For all these reasons, agents of the Civil Guard of Valladolid, specialists in telematic crimes, went to Barcelona and Valencia to proceed to the arrest and investigation of 9 people, five women and four men, aged between 24 and 46 years of age, of foreign nationalities and who have been accused for these acts of fraud, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization.
The Civil Guard of Valladolid instructs diligence that has been placed at the disposal of the Judicial Authority in Valladolid, leaving the alleged perpetrators free pending their request by the Judicial Authority.
Recommendations
To avoid being a victim of scams such as the one described or similar:
- Distrust any request for money that is made from unknown numbers
- It is not usual for people close to you to communicate with unknown numbers
- In the case where you identify yourself as a family member or friend, you should try to contact him by another means. Taking special care to NOT provide any important data to the interlocutor (NAME, ADDRESS, TELEPHONE, KINSHIP), since they usually do not know this data.
- Customs and airport procedures do not require an instant payment of money to solve the problems. These are regulated procedures and involve a standardized record.
- On social media, limit the access of information you share to known people (my friends). The bigger the circle of contacts (friends of my friends and all users), the greater the risk.
If you are a victim, you must report the facts as soon as possible, collecting all the available evidence, as well as contact your bank as soon as possible to inform them and try to recover the money, in case it has not yet been withdrawn from the destination account.
The Civil Guard recommends to the citizens, the download of the ALERTCOPS APP, to contact in case of emergency with the Operational Centers of the State Security Forces and Corps.
The app allows you to receive warning messages on your mobile phone when it is in an area affected by incidents.
Remember that in the event of any suspicion of vehicles or people who may commit a criminal offence, the emergency telephone number of the Civil Guard 062 is available to the citizen, through which the Civil Guard will assist him directly, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.