The Guardia Civil has dismantled an organisation for extorting more than 100 victims throughout the national territory through the publication of fictitious advertisements on online dating platforms with sexual content. In the operation, 34 people have been arrested and another 27 have been investigated.
Seven home searches have been carried out in the towns of Valencia, Burjassot, Alfafar, Sedaví and Tous, where 50 mobile phones, bank cards, 6,505 euro in cash, 180 grams of hashish, 281 grams of marijuana and 164 grams of amphetamines have been seized, in addition to prohibited weapons (extendable defence, personal defence spray and large machete) and spy cameras.
Jewellery, watches, computer and electronic equipment have also been seized, as well as false documentation used by the alleged perpetrators and documentation from third parties, bank cards in the name of extortion victims and economic mules.
Likewise, several inspections have been carried out in call centres in Valencia that the organisation used to register more than 500 telephone lines with false identities.
Fictitious ads on online dating platforms with sexual content
The organisation published fictitious ads on online dating platforms with sexual content. The clients of these services made calls to the supposed dating house in order to arrange a meeting, at which time the injured parties became victims of the organisation from whom they demanded money payments.
It should be noted that the organisation thoroughly investigated the privacy of the victims in order to obtain all possible information for later use. Once the data was collected, they made a phone call to the victims posing as members of Eastern mafias, who were angry because they had wasted his and his girls’ time. The perpetrators even used videos of tortured people who refused to pay, as well as videos showing masked individuals wielding large firearms or machetes.
Sometimes they would extort victims until their funds were exhausted and then require them to take out personal loans until they were completely ruined.
The payments made by the victims were deposited into bank accounts of people who acted as economic mules, giving up their personal data in exchange for an economic benefit. These people were recruited on the street by members of the organization who held higher hierarchical positions, which made investigation difficult.
One of the leaders of the organisation, a regular at gambling establishments and betting houses, used these establishments to launder a large part of the money that the injured parties deposited into the accounts of the economic mules.
Through the cash dispensers available in these places, they managed to circumvent the limitations established by banking entities for withdrawing money from ATMs. In this sense, two workers from a betting house are being investigated for their alleged collaboration in money laundering.
Psychological damage to victims and kidnappings
One of the victims, after being extorted by the organisation, had to be treated for months by specialised psychologists, who diagnosed them with serious psychological consequences. Another of the victims was kidnapped in the town of Benasal (Castellón), where they were forced to get into a van. They placed a plastic bag over their head and a large knife to the neck and forced the victim to go to the bank to withdraw all the money from their bank account.
Likewise, it was detected that the organisation also carried out banking scams by impersonating the security department of various financial entities. The scammers, through phishing campaigns, obtained the victims’ banking details and accessed their bank accounts. One of these victims turned out to be an elderly woman over 70 years old suffering from Alzheimer’s.
To date, from the analysis of more than 100 financial products used by the organisation, more than 100 possible victims have been detected who have not made the decision to file a complaint due to the fear instilled by the perpetrators of the events.
The criminal organisation could have obtained an economic benefit of more than 250,000 euro. The detainees are charged with the alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, injuries, fraud, robbery with force, document falsification, illicit possession of weapons and crimes against public health.
The arrests have taken place in various Valencian towns: Alfafar, Burjassot, Benigamin, Chiva, Llíria, Manises, Sedaví, Sagunto, Tous, Valencia and Xátiva. The proceedings have been delivered to the Court of First Instance and Instruction Number 4 of Moncada (Valencia).
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