This criminal gang that has finally been arrested, targeted their victims via SMS (SMS scamming). The SMS messages which were sent to their victims all contained a fraudulent link. Once the link was opened, the victim would land on a fake website.
Desmantellem grup criminal especialitzat en l’#Smishing o l’estafa amb missatges SMS, amb els quals obtenien dades bancàries i del telèfon mòbil de les víctimes. Dos dels integrants, que formaven la cúpula, ja són a presó pic.twitter.com/d2XiWa0rCP
— Mossos (@mossos) March 5, 2021
The fraudulent SMS messages containing links, led to fake websites where banks and mobile operators are impersonated to obtain the keys and passwords of the victims. They operated from Barcelona. There are four detainees between the ages of 19 and 27, who are charged with fraud and membership in a criminal group. The investigation began in October 2020, when a person filed a complaint. They had sent at least 71,000 text messages to potential victims.
Once the scammers had keys and passwords, they made a duplicate of the SIM card of the victim’s mobile line with a dual purpose: on the one hand to access the operational validation codes sent by banks and, on the other , to prevent the victim from realizing the fraudulent operation they were carrying out with the bank accounts and credit cards that were linked to it