The Civil Guard of Alicante has arrested five people within the so-called ‘Operation Sleepy’. The operation was launched in order to clarify repeated scams that were occurring and whose modus operandi consisted of collecting information from the credit cards of foreign people who were in Ibiza. Charges would subsequently be made without their consent through a Point of Sale Terminal (POS) “with certain specific characteristics that made drew attention to criminal activity”, reports the Ministry of the Interior in a press release.
In July 2019, the Civil Guard in Torrevieja recieved a complaint from a victim because his bank had blocked the current account he owned with his wife and was not able to access their funds. The complainant told the agents that he suspected that the reason could be that a regular customer of the esoteric products shop they ran offered to manage the rental of a bar in a hotel establishment on the island of Ibiza. A proposal to which they agreed. At no time did the acquaintance ask them for any money to participate in this business, as pointed out in their complaint, but she was interested in the POS, also known as a dataphone, which was related to the aforementioned account, now blocked.
The operation has been launched by the Guardia Civil. D.I.
This client, in subsequent conversations with the complainants, confirmed to them that they would take 30% of the profits but that in order to do so they had to move to Ibiza with their POS. Similarly, he made them send him a photograph of the terminal, since the model he said he needed had to have the feature that would allow him to operate with foreign credit cards and have a keyboard to enter the card data manually, details the Guardia Civil. In order to participate in the business, the complainant had to ask the bank for a new one.
Once they obtained the new terminal, which was adapted to the required model, they were then informed that a third person was going to contact them. That same day they received a phone call from this person, who with the excuse of checking the correct functioning of the new dataphone, asked them to introduce the data of a credit card provided, and the operation was carried out without any problem.
Days later, this same person told them that in order to to take advantage of the business in Ibiza, it was not necessary for them to travel to the island, and asked for them to send the POS, to which they refused. This person then went to the complainant’s home in the town of Torrevieja, where he stayed for three days, during which he carried out numerous operations using the computer and the dataphone of the complainants. Subsequently, and after a brief stay in Albacete, this person returned to the house in Torrevieja where he stayed again, this time for two days, after which he returned to Ibiza.
Ringleader in Ibiza
The Area of Investigation for the so-called ‘Operation Sleepy’ began in Torrevieja, in order to clarify the reported facts. As a result of the investigations, it was confirmed that it was an organization with clearly defined roles. From Ibiza, the ringleader provided credit card details from different countries so that they could be introduced into the POS to make charges, specifically from France, the United States, Canada, Germany and Turkey.
These actions were not always successful. It is estimated that they attempted to carry out operations amounting to approximately 20,000 euros, while managing to cash about 14,300€. The money collected, minus a commission, was to be paid in cash into an account or sent to a money remittance company to a person of Polish nationality also resident in Ibiza.
During the month of February, the client of the shop, a 39 year old Spanish woman, who originally put the parties in contact with each other in the town of Corvera (Murcia) was arrested. The 41-year-old Polish national who received the payments was also arrested and the ringleader of the scheme, a 37-year-old Spaniard, who was not arrested as he was in prison serving a sentence for a previous offence, was investigated.
Together with the complainant couple, both Spaniards aged 59 and 55 respectively, who are considered necessary cooperators, all have been charged with crimes of fraud, money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation .
They have been placed at the disposal of the Court of Instruction No. 2 of Torrevieja and released on bail, apart from the offender who is in prison serving a sentence for another crime.
The Guardia Civil continues investigating the facts and seeks other possible victims in coordination with Europol, FBI and the police of Canada and Turkey. New arrests have not been ruled out.