this national police operation results in the detention of individuals accused of defrauding about 240,000 euros from a telephone operator by using fake debit and credit cards purchased through illicit means and then resold on the open market. the scheme involved a network that spanned several major spanish cities including madrid, barcelona, seville, huelva and cadiz, as reported by the investigators.
those behind the scheme created a fictitious company and linked accounts on popular trading platforms. this allowed them to generate sales totaling over two million euros in the last year by presenting the acquired devices as legitimate inventory for onward sale to consumers. the group also manipulated 1,256 different cards to execute nearly 200 purchases and ran about 1,800 fraudulent transactions against the same phone company.
as a result of the fraud, the operator supplied 109 devices worth roughly 108,000 euros to members of the criminal ring. the broader financial damage to the company exceeded 240,000 euros. the pursuit began nearly a year ago when representatives of the national police uncovered a hierarchical criminal structure with defined roles and duties.
some members focused on acquiring devices through fake cards, while others recruited individuals in their circles to physically collect the terminals from the operator’s stores. investigators confirmed that the activity started in madrid and gradually expanded to other regions as more personal data was found to be compromised or card status revoked across multiple spanish points of sale.
the operation culminated in a raid on a residence in madrid’s villa de vallecas district. inside the home, authorities found approximately 55,000 euros in cash tucked away among furniture, along with a cache of devices such as 55 mobile phones, tablets, laptops and game consoles.
in total, forty detainees were presented before the court on charges including the creation and operation of a criminal organization, use of fraudulent methods to obtain mobile devices, and related offenses. the case includes allegations of fake identities and the manipulation of marital status references to secure devices, as well as tax-related offenses connected to the scheme. the national police emphasized that the investigation remains ongoing as officers continue to trace the full extent of the network and its activities across the country.