Three people arrested after defrauding 10 million euros through CEO fraud

The Guardia Civil has arrested three people, and a fourth is being investigated, for conducting million-dollar scams on 12 foreign companies in the operation named Lavanco.

The affected companies from Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, United States, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and Venezuela, accumulate monetary losses due to this fraud of 10,700,000 euros.

Cyber criminals performed the spear-phishing technique called CEO fraud. Their modus operandi consisted of an impersonation of one of the company's directors by means of an e-mail specially prepared for this purpose, in which they requested, urgently and discreetly, a bank transfer to carry out an allegedly confidential transaction.

Lavanco operation, which originated in Sarria and began in 2016, has been managed by the Lugo Command, and has been arranged with the collaboration of Europol and Interpol, including foreign police forces such as FBI or BKA.