The Modus Operandi of the criminals team was after all quite classic, but sufficiently effective to steal the 19 million euros. First act: targeting by algorithms to select profiles corresponding to the criteria of the crooks.
Second act: the approach, via two vectors to choose from: the ” Romance Baiting ” (these romantic relationships Virtual where Cupid aims at your portfolio) or contact by supposed “financial advisers” whose expertise is limited to emptying your bank account. The bogus investment platforms obviously displayed yields worthy of a unicorn – all artificially generated. Then occurred by the inevitable adventure: the blocking of funds with, as the only solution, an additional payment to unlock the situation.
Final act: the victims were contacted by the same crooks, this time disguised as Europol agents or British lawyers, announcing the good news: your funds have been recovered! But to receive them, you still have to pay local taxes.
Behind the scenes, the organization had set up a system of screens companies to whiten stolen money. As for the network manager, he juggled more than 50 different identities to blur the tracks.
