The victims are mainly from the United States, Australia, Mexico and several countries of the European Union, and one of those arrested is a bank employee who used his job to give veracity to the scam, as reported today by the Police.
Those arrested are charged with the crimes of fraud, falsification of documents, money laundering and illicit association.
In this operation, seven high-end vehicles have been intervened and 114 bank accounts have been blocked in the name of the detainees.
The "Nigerian letters" scam in the variant of false inheritance consists of an unexpected communication, made through letters and through emails, in which the senders make their victims believe that they can obtain a significant sum of money.
The victims were told that they could collect a millionaire inheritance from an unknown relative and that to obtain the money it was necessary to make various payments to members of the group, while the amount allegedly inherited is never received.
Nigerian citizens residing in Spain
The investigation began in September 2009 when agents became aware of the existence of an organized group, composed mostly of Nigerian citizens residing in Spain, which was dedicated to defrauding by sending "Nigerian letters" by sending "Nigerian letters".
The fraudulent communications were sent mainly from Madrid capital, the Madrid towns of Torrejón de Ardoz, Fuenlabrada, Móstoles and Getafe, and also from Girona.
The alleged fraudsters, who sent thousands of letters daily with which they have deceived numerous foreign victims, had the collaboration of a bank employee who worked as head of cash and foreign currency in a financial institution, which was an important piece in the gear of the group.
They were made to believe that the money was in Spain.
According to the Police, from his job he received the victims of the fraud and made them believe that the millionaire fund that had been promised to them was really deposited in the Bank of Spain.
He also justified that the impossibility of disposing of the money at that time was due to various complications that had arisen when making the transfers in their private accounts to dispose of the money. With all this, the scammers managed to give reliability to the deception.
The agents have carried out seventeen searches in different locations of the capital and in Girona, of which eleven have been in private homes and the rest in a restaurant, a locutorio, an office of a bank, a private office, a room of a hostel and in a storage room.
Among the effects intervened were several boxes with packages of cardboard that simulated US dollar bills, letters, labels and envelopes ready for referral to potential victims, as well as various computer material.
Source: The World is
