Spanish operation against cybercriminals: 34 members arrested

The Spanish National Police has dismantled a cybercriminal organization that perpetrated a series of cyber scams to steal and monetize the data of more than four million people.

Investigations and arrests

The country's law enforcement agencies carried out 16 targeted searches in Madrid, Malaga, Huelva, Alicante and Murcia, arresting 34 members of the criminal group. During the police operations, firearms and bladed weapons, four luxury cars, 80,000 euros in cash and computers hosting a database with information on four million people were seized.

Attack mode

Spanish police say the arrested individuals are linked to email and SMS scams impersonating delivery companies and electricity suppliers. In other cases, they took advantage of an insider's position in an international technology company to divert merchandise to addresses under the threat actors' control.

Fake loan scam

The investigation into this particular group began in early 2023, following the filing of thousands of complaints describing a common pattern of deception. The fraudsters hacked the databases of various financial and credit institutions, in addition to stealing customer data, they used their access to transfer large sums of money to customer accounts.