Investigation nearing completion in the DIAP of the Braga Court. With more than 50 defendants, who will have stolen, through the method of phishing, and from Braga, around one million euros from dozens of bank accounts, most of which are from Montepio Geral, but also, to a much lesser extent, from the former Banif.
The scheme, which started in 2012 and lasted until 2018, started from a core of three men, who arranged for as many “hackers”, who accessed the bank accounts of citizens and companies, taking from them various amounts, of amounts they could go from one thousand to ten thousand euros. In most cases, the injured were allowed to be deceived by false email’s bank and gave access codes, allowing fraud.
The first known theft dates back to August 2013, when hackers accessed the order deposit account of a man with the surname Várzea, through the internet banking “Net 24”, by Montepio, transferring 1995 euros to the account of one of the main defendants. Which raised 1950 euros in cash that day from your account.
On the 27th, they went to the account, in the same way, of the previous victim and a man with the surname Teixeira, taking 1950 euros from each of them. 55 more robberies are insured, to the detriment of 47 people or companies. More than 200 thousand euros at this stage.
The investigation began in 2014, having given the first results in 2017 when the Investigating Court heard two of the defendants, of the six already constituted. After that, it spread to dozens of other banking intrusions…
Used third-party accounts
The PJ concluded that the mentors of the crime resorted to the bank accounts of third parties, in order not to expose themselves too much, that is, the transfers were made from the victim’s account to those of friends or family of the defendants, being collected and handed over to the defendants.
This procedure was extended in the area and in the country, extending to Brazil where people known to the criminals received the money in the account, withdrawing it and transferring it, through exchange agencies, to Braga.
In certain cases, fictitious purchases were made at companies controlled by the defendants, such as “Boi d’ouro” and “RebeldStatus”.
In some situations, the injured parties detected the fraud and got Montepio to cancel the transfer, with the respective money refund.
If the user of a given bank account did not notice that he had “embezzled” money, the defendants repeated the dose, stealing from him several times, two thousand euros, as happened with one who was left without ten thousand.
Montepio is safe
When contacted, the PJ / Braga does not comment, and one of its officials said only that people appear every day to complain about fraud in the Internet, bank or commercial. In turn, jurist João Ferreira Araújo, who defends another, told O MINHO that he is unaware of the evolution of the investigation, after the interrogation in 2017, of its constituent.
Montepio responded – according to a news report from Newspaper – saying that “customer safety in any of the channels – home banking, app or even at the counter – and the protection of deposits, data and transactions has always been a concern ”. To that end, – he adds – “it has robust and technologically advanced security mechanisms that guarantee demanding levels of security and privacy in platforms, infrastructures and services”.
This also allows “to ensure the mechanisms for authentication and authorization of customer operations, in any of the channels (strong authentication)”
In addition, “given the rapid evolution of cyber threats, the Bank regularly site, recommendations and best security practices, as well as notices and consultation material, to identify possible risks and threats ”.
PJ alerts customers
On its website, the PJ recalls that “it is up to users to take additional security measures”, taking into account the “fraud warnings” of the banks. Also advise that they do not fill in ”or do not deliver on pages of the Internet”The digits related to the“ matrix card ”. He asks that bank accounts not be handed over for the “receipt of money illegally moved” or whose source is not “certain to be legitimate” which constitutes a crime punishable by imprisonment.
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