The Guardia Civil, in the framework of operation ‘NITRIMAX’, has proceeded to arrest four people, and placed one other under investigation, suspected of belonging to a criminal organisation dedicated to an online scam involving the sale of sanitary material.
They are allegedly responsible for numerous offences of fraud, identity theft, false documentation by offering sanitary products and air conditioning equipment over the internet, pretending to be real companies, and so far defrauding some €22,000.
Operation ‘NITRIMAX’ began as a result of a complaint filed in July last year on the island of Lanzarote. A businessman had reported a scam of more than €9,000 in the purchase of Covid-19 sanitary material (masks, gel, and gloves).
Apparently, they sold the sanitary products through various buying and selling websites, and, after gaining the trust of their victims by sending product samples and “proforma invoice” type documentation in the name of real companies, they managed to receive payment for the products offered, which they never sent to the victims
To avoid identification, they created a network of real identities usurped from immigrants and nationals to mask their real identity. Real companies were also used, but with forged documentation, to give the appearance of legality to the supposed product offers via the internet, thus sufficiently deceiving their victims.
After analysing the data obtained at a national level, officers were also able to locate…
