A UKRAINIAN gang which pocked €4.7 million in a giant online gaming scam has been brought down in the Valencian Community.
The group recruited at least 55 vulnerable women in parts of the Ukraine that were the hardest hit in the conflict with Russia.
They brought them over to Spain in order to use their identities to open bank accounts which they used to launder their proceeds.
€4.7M GAMING SCAM IN SPAIN
The crew even had specialist recruiters who managed and financed the movement of women into the country.
Besides the Policia Nacional, the complex probe involved the Ukrainian Police, Europol, Interpol, as well as Spain’s Directorate-General for the Regulation of Gambling
Eight people have been arrested in Alicante province and four in Valencia province.
Six of the detainees have been remanded into custody.
They have been accused of human trafficking, document forgery, usurpation of civil status, computer fraud, fraud and money laundering.
The gang created a system using sophisticated computer programmes to defraud online gaming platforms through multiple identities stolen from over 5,000 people of 17 different nationalities.
The Policia Nacional investigation began in October 2023 after it verified the presence of the criminal operation in the Valencia region.
POLICIA NACIONAL PROBE
Once in Spain, the organisation guaranteed accommodation and food for the female recruits, keeping them under tight control.
Procedures were immediately initiated at the Reception, Care and Referral Centres for Displaced Persons from Ukraine (CREADE) so that the women could obtain temporary protection status in Spain.
Once they got that status, the victims were accompanied to different banks to open current accounts and obtain credit cards which were then controlled by the criminals.
The account and card details were used to set up multiple accounts on online gambling platforms.
The gang developed automated computer programmes, known as ‘bots’, with which they placed thousands of simultaneous bets at low odds with the aim of minimising risks and ensuring constant profits- using stolen identities.
The Policia Nacional said the system allowed the organisation to move millions of euros and generate apparently legal profits via betting platforms.
The winnings were transferred to bank accounts opened in the names of the Ukrainian women or into the accounts of the gang leaders, both in Spain and abroad.
The money was later used to buy luxury properties in different European countries which then became tourist rentals to make more cash and provide an added tier of laundering.
More than 240 complaints of identity theft and fraud in Spain have been collated by the police.
Nine house searches were carried out in the Alicante and Valencia areas, where more than €200,000 in cryptocurrencies, €73,000 in cash, four high-end vehicles, 88 mobile phones, 20 computers and 22 ‘bots’ have been seized.
Ten properties valued at more than €2 million plus bank accounts in Spain and ten other countries totalling over €470,000 euros have also been blocked.
At the same time, eight house searches were carried out in the Ukraine on nine people under investigation.
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