The majority of the 53 people detained by the National Police for allegedly acting as “mules” for an international organization dedicated to sports betting scams were young Spaniards who gave up their identity in exchange for a small amount of money.
Depending on the type and amount of personal data they offered to the members of the plot – full name, ID, a personal photo – they obtained a certain amount of money, which in any case did not exceed 400 euros in total, this has been reported. Friday the investigators at a press conference.
His profile, according to the head of the Gambling Control Service of the National Police Center for Integrity in Sports and Betting (Cenpida), David Calvete, is that of a man between 18 and 25 years old without income or with some very rare and with a certain connection with the world of betting and with members of the organization.
Among them, 35 young people residing in Madrid stand out, another ten in Toledo and several more in different parts of the country. In addition, they also recruited young people in other countries, although less.
However, the investigation has determined that the criminal network had nearly 1,500 identities with which they created false accounts in betting houses, most of them usurped or obtained on the deep internet or “Dark Web.”
These 53 “mules” join the 22 detained in the first phase of what was called Operation Mursal, which began last September, among whom were the two ringleaders of the network, a man of Romanian nationality and another of Bulgarian nationality, who They are in prison, as well as an operator of a major betting house who was in charge of validating their bets, who received close to 50,000 euros.
It is estimated that they managed to carry out their criminal activity in at least 20 countries around the world, including Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Montenegro, Russia, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Kosovo and Brazil.
The beginning of the operation dates back to 2020, when the General Directorate of Gambling Regulation, of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, detected a pattern of irregular bets that it reported to the Police.
Specifically, these were several large bets made from Spain on a table tennis match held in Brazil.
The first investigations revealed contacts between people from Romania and Bulgaria with around 25 professionals of this sport thanks to the intermediation of a former player on the international circuit who advertised himself as an analyst on different websites.
Given the indications that they could be facing an international criminal organization, the agents of the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) went on their trail and identified a hierarchical structure made up of leaders, recruiters, “tipsters” betting), gamblers and athletes.
They used two different methodologies. The first, the fixing of tennis and soccer matches, mainly, through prior agreements with the players; the second, the most innovative and complex, capturing the live signal of sporting events between ten and twelve seconds before the betting houses.
To do this, they used large satellite dishes installed in their homes, thanks to which they captured the broadcast of sporting events from around the world – among them, the German Bundesliga or the UEFA Nations League – and managed to place bets that were always winning.
Using these two methods, the chief inspector of the UDEF Central, Martín Sánchez, has stressed, they calculate that those arrested obtained close to 80 million euros of benefit since 2012, with prizes that sometimes exceeded two million.
The financial analysis, Sánchez has admitted, “is at the tip of the iceberg” and it will be the betting houses themselves, “the main victims”, who will be able to quantify the economic damage suffered.
At the moment, 69 bank accounts have been analyzed in which in a short time they managed to move several million euros – although they used all types of currencies -, despite the fact that some of their owners did not have any professional activity.
Agents from Customs Surveillance, Interpol and Europol have also participated in the operation, coordinated by the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organized Crime and the Central Investigative Court number 3 of the National Court.
