The international operation, led by the Spanish National Police and the US Secret Service and coordinated by Europol led to arrest of 105 suspects allegedly involved in a criminal network that stole more than €12 million via a credit card scam expanding across more than 15 countries.
“The criminal organization, mainly formed of Greek nationals, set up shell companies in the United States and opened bank accounts for these companies. To gain the trust of the financial institutions, members of the criminal network made transfers to the US-based accounts from different locations in the EU. Based on this trust, the American-based banks issued debit and credit cards for these accounts,” Europol said in a press release.
Retailers in on the scam, most of whom were in Spain, used the payment cards to finance the available credited amounts on the cards. To launder the stolen funds, they transferred them to different bank accounts, owned by members of the criminal network located in several EU countries. More than 50 US financial institutions became victims of these fraudulent activities losing over €12 million.
According to the Spanish police, the criminal network was headquartered in a hotel in the Spanish town of Miajadas in the province of Cáceres (Extremadura), from there they coordinated their illicit activities that extended across 24 provinces within Spain, and across 15 other countries, including Greece, Austria, Britain, Denmark, Ukraine and Germany.
The scammers allegedly made use of a legal loophole that allows US credit card holders to make purchases in Europe with no funds, while banks on both continents settle the transactions.
“Once in Spain, the American cards were used in conniving establishments for high amounts through the pre-authorization system, taking advantage of the difference in the acceptance of payment between American and Spanish banks. Through this procedure they were able to make important purchases and later empty the cash accounts before the banks could cancel the operations,” the police said.
In a coordinated effort, law enforcement officers carried out more than 40 house searches, arrested 37 suspects in Austria, Greece, Spain and in the UK and seized 13 luxury cars, as well as €406 000 in cash. The follow up actions led to the freeze of 87 bank accounts worth €1.3 million.