Recently the Granada City Hall had its computer systems hacked and lost over 50,000 euros destined for salaries

The specialised police department, Delitos Tecnológicos belonging to the Policía Nacional quickly tracked down one suspect in Madrid, who had ostenatiously bought five, high-range cars, three of which were Porsche sports cars instead of waiting for things to quieten down and spend the booty less obviously.

The judge had placed a gagging order on the investigation not long after the theft was carried out, in January this year, which has since been lifted following these three arrests.

One of those arrested is an 18-year-old (who was a minor at the time of the theft) who was found to have entered the computer systems of several administrations from a personal computer (PC).

Officers from the Policía Nacional’s Cibercrime Group not only came up with the five cars but have also blocked an 100,000 euros in cryptocurrency belonging to those arrested, as well as 75,000 euros in cash, which was found during home searches.

Furthermore, the police have found bank movements of nearly a million euros. In fact, one of the lines of investigation centred upon money laundering.

To date, the police believe that the suspects obtain 26,000 in salaries belonging to the accounts of four administrative workers in the City Hall and 30,000 euros more from the City Hall of Madrid

The hackers managed to crack the system by using the virtual gateway for administrative staff working from home. The suspects allegedly changed the bank details of the staff members to an acount used by the gang.

The police have not ruled out the possibility that similar hacking has been carried out on other Town Halls around the country.

By 2020, then aged 16, this particular hacker had managed to create 141,000 false accounts in order to watch streaming platforms free of charge. This cost the said platforms 450,000 euros in lost revenue. On another occasion, he allegedly hacked into a hamburger-chain system in order to invite all of his friends to a fast-food banquet.

Editorial comment: it takes a thief to catch a thief, which means that this young man will be snapped up by online-security companies, and even by the police themselves, to counter hacking.

(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)