106 members of the Italian mafia were arrested for SIM swapping, BEC scams and phishing.
A common business between Europol, Italian and Spanish police resulted in the arrest of 106 members of the Italian mafia for cybercrime and money laundering.
Οι ύποπτοι συνελήφθησαν την περασμένη εβδομάδα στην Τενερίφη, (Κανάριοι Νήσοι της Ισπανίας), σε μια επιχείρηση από τις αρχές με το όνομα "Fontana Almabahia".
Τα μέλη της μαφίας κατηγορούνται για δραστηριότητες που σχετίζονται με το έγκλημα στον κυβερνοχώρο και οι αρχές τις περιέγραψαν ως "υψηλού βαθμού τεχνικής".
The group carried out SIM swapping, phishing and vishing attacks to breach company networks and steal funds or trick employees into sending payments σε λάθος λογαριασμούς σε ένα κλασικό σχήμα απάτης που ονομάζεται "BEC".
Using these tactics, the group stole and later laundered more than 10 million euros, using a network of accounts and fake companies to launder them.
Most of the companies that fell victim were based in Italy, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Lithuania and United Kingdom.
Spanish police say they have been tracking the group since June 2020 when they spotted dangerous individuals linked to the Italian mafia in the Canary Islands
These individuals were associated with four Italian mafia organizations (Camorra Napolitana, Nuvoletta, Casamonica and Sacra Corona Unita).
Spanish police said they had been monitoring the suspects from the beginning and over the past year much more to understand and learn their internal structure.
The leaders were members of the Italian Neapolitan mafia, who traveled frequently to the Canary Islands to oversee their businesses.
https://twitter.com/policia/status/1439871199794827266
Like any mafia business, the group did more than just steal. They have managed to penetrate many sections of Canary Islands society, such as business networks, law firms and banks.
"Αυτό το επίπεδο όχι μόνο έδωσε στην συγκεκριμένη οργάνωση πόρους για ξέπλυμα χρήματος, αλλά και για τις διαφορετικές εγκληματικές δραστηριότητες που πραγματοποιούνταν σε όλη την Ισπανία", ανέφεραν οι αρχές.
The group was also linked to prostitution circles, arms sales, drug trafficking, kidnappings, fraud, forgery of documents, Social Security fraud, robberies, extortion and two murders in the small Canary archipelago.
Authorities said the group needed hundreds of bank accounts to launder its stolen funds. These accounts had to be opened and closed at a very fast pace to prevent their funds from freezing.
At one point, in order to gain access to new bank accounts, the group kidnapped a woman and forced her to open 50 bank accounts on behalf of the organization. He then made her empty her account from an ATM.
Authorities disbanded the team last week after 16 raids in Tenerife's Santa Cruz, Turin in Spain and Izernia in Italy.
They arrested 106 people, froze 118 bank accounts, confiscated 224 credit cards, 402 marijuana trees, along with computer equipment, phones and SIM cards.
A book confiscated during the raids showed that the group had obtained more than 80 SIM cards that they were preparing to use in future SIM swapping attacks.
