The Civil Guardin the framework of the ‘Pyramidi-Scam’ operationhas dismantled a criminal organization made up of at least thirty people, based in Murcia, Tenerife and Alicante and dedicated to the recruitment and pyramid scheme of its investors.
During the operation 31 people have been investigated in Murcia, Alicante, Barcelona and Oviedo and the two leaders of the criminal network have been arrested in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where a house search has also been carried out in which cash, documentation and material have been seized computer related to criminal activity now clarified.
specialized staff of technological research of the Benemérita opened an investigation after filing a complaint in Cabezo de Torres (Murcia) in which a person claimed to have been the victim of a scam along with other people, both regionally and nationally.
The first steps of the investigation made it possible to verify that the deception consisted of attracting people to make investments in a future digital platform to make purchases and sales, similar to a well-known marketplace (a commercial space that serves as an intermediary between buyers and sellers).
MODUS OPERANDI: PYRAMID SCAM
The criminal activity It began with the creation of a brand, which had to be endowed with credibility and prestige. This brand was a marketplace platform that aspired to compete with the first merchants in the online sales sector.
According to his philosophy, it included direct purchases from the provider, euro transactions, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency wallets and home deliveryamong other services, although it has later been found that its creators never intended to materialize the project, but simply to profit illegally at the expense of their investors.
In the top of the pyramidAccording to their hierarchy, the leaders of the plot were located, who presented the project to other people who were offered to join in exchange for making investments in it, with the argument that they would later generate succulent benefits.
The principal investigated appeared in some videos promotional of the company advertising itself as director in Spain of the same. According to the researchers themselves, this transnational plot covered numerous countries, such as Italy, the United Kingdom, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, among others, all of them with their respective directors.
The staging to capture objectives was like a movie. Events were organized in prestigious hotels in Spain and other European countries, and even trips and cruises, all with the aim of giving the appearance of a solvent company and attracting the largest possible number of investors/victims.
The structure of the scam was pyramidal and followed the ponzi schemewhich is a type of investment fraud that pays out existing investors with funds generated by new investors, making established victims the new recruiters to continue seeking out future investors.
In addition to the investments, the scammed had to buy licenses from the company, which they later had to sell in order to obtain an economic benefit. Therefore, the scammed had two options to obtain benefits, selling licenses or making investments with which interests were offered that were above the market.
To do this, the scammers created a digital platform in which each investor/license seller was guaranteed the possibility of moving up in the organization in a gemological classification (emerald, diamond, double diamond…). They had their own profile where they could visualize the economic benefits that had originated, although they could never dispose of them. Therefore, the leaders made large profits that were diverted to accounts in Lithuania or through conversion to cryptocurrencies..
DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPERATION.
During the development of the operation, the civil guards identified the majority of the members of the criminal organization, who, hierarchically, were in the middle zone of the pyramid. 31 people residing in Murcia (9), Alicante (18), Barcelona (3) and Oviedo (1) have been located and investigated.
In addition, the identities of the two leaders of the organization, who resided in San Isidro, in Granadilla de Abona (Tenerife), were ascertained, also verifying that the main leader was also investigating the Civil Guard of Santa Cruz de Tenerife the result of financial intelligence information for banking operations suspected of being related to the crime of money laundering, such as the receipt of numerous transfers with various amounts and concepts through a presumably instrumental company with no apparent business activity in Spain and no other employees more than the principal investigated, as well as, without a physical office or own operating expenses.
From that moment on, the research joint venture between the Judicial Police units and @rroba teams of the Civil Guard of Murcia and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. After the development of an arduous and coordinated investigation and once the necessary evidence was obtained, with prior judicial authorization, the entry and search of the home of the principal investigated, an Italian national, along with his spouse, a Cuban national, was carried out. also investigated for being part of the international plot.
In the Registration Numerous effects were seized, such as: thousands of euros in cash, credit cards, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, hard drives and abundant documentation related to the company
The detainees and those investigated – who are allegedly responsible for the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, fraud and money laundering -, the effects seized and the proceedings carried out have been made available to the competent judicial authorities. The judicial direction and the coordination of the operation as a whole has been carried out by the Investigating Court number 5 of Murcia.
The operation has been carried out by civil guards from the Judicial Police Organic Unit (EDITE – Technological Investigation Team) and the @rroba teams from the Region of Murcia and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, who have had the collaboration of their counterparts from Alicante, Barcelona and Oviedo.
