Police operation dismantles web spoofing scheme

The National Police have carried out two searches and three arrests in Orihuela and Torrevieja to break up a criminal organisation dedicated to online fraud. It is estimated that 1,000 people were affected and that they had more than 100 bank accounts with false information. The organisation managed to scam more than 5 million euros by impersonating websites.

The organisation used impersonations of legitimate online shops selling high-end electronic products. These spoofs were in many cases identical to the original websites or very similar in others, and also when a domain was detected and shut down, the organisation launched the fake website with a new domain, making it very difficult to dismantle. In addition, advanced search engine optimisation techniques were used to place these fake sites very close to the top of the search results, which facilitated the success of the scam.

When the members of the criminal network were located, their homes were searched and false documentation, blank credit cards ready to be recorded, a device for recording the cards and various mobile phones used for the operation were seized.