Pontevedra, March 26, 2025.- The subdelegate of the Government in Pontevedra, Abel Losada, warns of the dangers of investments in cryptomoedas and gives the voice of alert once the figures of the National Police stations and the Civil Guard Command of the province show that cyberscams with this modality reached 3,235,679 euros over the past year. A total of 117 people were tricked by the @offender and lost their money.
Losada also warns that the provisional data so far this year show that the impact of this specialized crime continues to grow, so it considers it necessary to alert the population of the risks of trusting advisors, agencies or fake online “brokers” without due advice and without any guarantee. “There are a lot of reports coming in from people who, once they lose their money, come in as they are being called in for extra payments to get their investment back and get scammed again.”
The subdelegate considers that this is an extremely worrying phenomenon because it affects people in rural and urban areas, people with very different economic capacities and people of all levels of academic or professional training. “Law enforcement officials say we’re ahead of the 21st century ‘stamp scam’ because they offer extremely high returns almost immediately in a ‘safe business’ and, incredible though it may seem, it still works.”
The data show that the smallest amount of fraud in the province was 248 euros and occurred in the city of Pontevedra and the highest reached 356,000 euros and was collected by the Civil Guard. However, there are also five complaints in the province amounting to more than 100,000 euros. The deputy delegate regrets that there are complainants who report that they have lost all their savings, so he insists on prudence before launching this type of investment.
The Civil Guard collected a total of 59 complaints and recorded the loss of a total of 1,647,186 euros in the province. At the National Police Station in Pontevedra, 30 complaints were registered and a volume of 573,452 euros was cheated. At the Vigo-Redonda Police Station, a total of 853,941 euros and 20 complaints. At the Vilagarcía Police Station, 7 complaints were filed in the amount of 148,000 euros. Finally, a complaint worth 13,100 euros was registered at the Marín Police Station.
The “modus operandi” is an initial acquisition in which fraudsters contact victims through social networks, emails, advertisements or phone calls in which they present themselves as “brokers”, financial advisors or representatives of legitimate platforms. They use false identities and always promise high profitability with low risk, warns Abel Losada, who emphasizes that on many occasions people who are scammed are convinced that they cannot let a “unique occasion” escape.
Cybercriminals often ask for a first investment of a modest amount and request the investor’s personal data, simulating legitimate processes. Below they report fictitious gains to build trust. The victims, seeing their investment grow, feel motivated and give more money. It creates web portals with manipulated graphics and false witnesses of successful investors to continue generating trust. Created this link encourages victims to increase the investment, promising greater benefits.
When the victim intends to recover his money, the excuses begin, the funds are blocked, alleging technical problems or even requesting additional payments in the form of commissions or taxes, additional payments that, in many cases, are made. Finally, the contact is cut off and the fraudsters disappear without a trace.