Through this method they obtained more than 70,000 euros from 28 victims from different provinces
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, 9 (PRESS EUROPE)
Seven men and a woman were arrested on November 16 in Ourense and O Carballiño as alleged perpetrators of 28 threats, membership of a criminal group and money laundering for advertising phone numbers on dating sites, obtaining phone numbers customers, who did not manage to make appointments and subsequently demand payment of money under threat.
Payments made went from 100 to 36,500 euros. In total there are 28 victims in the provinces of all of Spain for a total of 71,600 euros in just over a year.
As reported by the State Police this Friday, the method used was to advertise telephone numbers on dating web pages to induce potential clients to contact women who offered sexual services in different points of the territory, even if they ended up not making appointments. .
In this way, the organization obtained the telephone numbers of the subsequent victims from whom it demanded payment of a certain amount of money.
Thus, once they had their data, the inmates contacted the victims via an instant messaging application, by phone call or by text, sending them sentences threatening to harm them or kill them dead for wasting their time. to their “girlfriends” and had to pay a fine to the organization.
THREATS
In a statement, the State Police specified that the threats consisted of phrases such as “if you refuse to pay, the hitmen will chase you” or “if you don’t pay, we will kill you or a relative of yours.” In addition, they even sent photographs of firearms, amputated limbs and videos of an execution by knife.
Subsequently, when the victims agreed to pay the alleged debt, the method of payment proposed by the perpetrators changed. Sometimes they requested a bank transfer and in other cases they made a cash deposit at an ATM. In addition, they have also used money transfer companies or mobile payment platforms.
Once the victims agreed to make the required payments, the alleged perpetrators continued to demand follow-up payments, which did not stop until the victims filed a complaint out of fear of the threats being carried out.
The Questura highlighted that the payments made amounted to between 100 and 36,500 euros, paid by a single victim, who also attempted suicide due to the threatening situation. Among the 28 victims they added a total of 71,600 euros over a period of just over a year.
ARRESTS
In light of these facts, the police arrested eight people in Ourense and O Carballiño on 16 November. Two searches were carried out in two addresses, where numerous documents, papers used for the commission of criminal acts, telephone terminals and computer equipment pertaining to the investigation were found.
The detainees are seven men and one woman. In addition, another female suspect who was not detained was also transferred to police stations. Three of them went to jail.
New arrests are not excluded, since the investigators concluded that at least 18 individuals participated in the national territory and another unidentified who is doing so from abroad. Furthermore, the group is allegedly organizing a “new campaign” of threats.
The State Police specified that the alleged perpetrators also participated in 11 others already prosecuted and in which they obtained another 12,298 euros from the victims in the same period of time.
grievance
The events that led to the arrests began on October 31, when the Technological Crimes Group of the Provincial Judicial Police Brigade received a complaint from Malaga in which the victim claimed to have demanded a fee of 1,500 euros for having contacted by telephone the previous day with several escort girls, whose lines were advertised on a contact page, although he ultimately did not make an appointment to have sex.
As part of the investigation, the agents verified that at least 27 other victims reported the same “modus operandi” in the provinces of A Coruña, Alicante, Burgos, Córdoba, Granada, Gran Canaria, Huelva, León, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia , Pamplona, Ourense, Pontevedra, Salamanca, Seville, Valencia, Tenerife and Zaragoza.
