Every time they bring out a new way of making payments there are those that find ways of using the system to steal your money.

The Wallet app on your smartphone is just one example: 24 people were arrested across Spain for stealing the banking details (phishing) belonging to some 300 victims.

These arrests were carried out as part of the police operation, Telémaco, which in cooperation with the Moroccan authorities, also brought about another 23 arrests.

The arrested suspects allegedly accrued half a million euros a year, which was later laundered through the obtention of crypto currencies.

The Policía Nacional began investigating in April 2018 after numerous cases cropped up where the victims were not only individuals but also banking entities. The common factor was credit cards whose data were used to withdraw cash or make purchases in shops using payments apps for mobile phones.

All of these fraudulent scams start off with the sending out of a massive amount of spamming email pretending to be from well known banks in order to obtain banking details from the victims. This method is known as phishing.

In order not to leave a trail the cyber criminals used open WIFI services or ones belonging to the hostelry and commercial sectors; hotels & restaurants. Once the victim’s credit-card details had been obtained they linked this information to the Wallet app. Result: everytime they made a purchase using the ‘contactless’ Wallet app, the purchase was charged to the victim’s card.

Besides the 40-odd arrests in Spain and Morocco, a large amount of computer equipment has been confiscated and 39 webpages will be closed down.

Lastly, anybody who might have fallen prey to this type of fraude should contact the Policía Nacional via fraudeinternet@policia.es

(News: Spain)