75 members of a sports betting association that targeted bookmakers were arrested by Spain's Policia Nacional and the Revenue Agency in association with Europol and Interpol.
The first phase of the police operation saw 22 people detained in the areas of Madrid, Guadalajara and Zaragoza, and the seizure of 2 million euros.
The second phase saw another 53 arrests of people who acted as “mules” for the international gang by providing their personal data or other information on various betting platforms in exchange for money.
The organization had two objectives: either to manipulate sports competitions or to intercept satellite television images to bookmakers, who were unaware that they did not have live coverage of an event.
The gang used a sophisticated technological system to defraud bookmakers by intercepting satellite feeds and delaying them so that bets could be placed with outcomes known, except to the bookmaker themselves.
The investigations began in 2020 when the Policia Nacional detected a series of suspicious online sports bets placed on international sporting events.
The investigations uncovered a criminal network of Romanian and Bulgarian origin, based in Spain, which had the ability to bribe competitors from their country of origin.
Events were rigged and bookmakers were scammed with “broadcast and delayed” images using cutting edge technology.
The gang created a complex criminal network to launder money obtained from gambling.
Once an event had been chosen to bet on, online bets were placed via “mules” living in Spain.
Agents discovered that the organization had hundreds of identities to place bets and win big prizes in the name of third parties which, apparently, were collected by different people but in reality members of the group.
They have also used both cryptocurrencies and payment gateways as a regular means of financial transactions.
The group controlled over 1.500 gaming accounts.
Seized were numerous IT equipment, 80 telephone terminals, two large satellite dishes and signal receivers, a high-end vehicle, €5.500 in cash and €13.000 in counterfeit banknotes.
Furthermore, the police seized a large number of credit cards and documentation in the name of third parties and more than 200 prepaid SIM cards.
47 bank accounts, 28 payment gateway accounts and 400.000 euros in cryptocurrencies were also blocked.
