Alex Trelinski
THE Policia Nacional have arrested 44 people across Spain over a telesales fraud which used stolen personal contact details from electricity company databases.
Customer information including address and bank details were used to set up new power supply contracts to earn a commission.
It’s believed that details of 36,000 people were illegally accessed.
No figure has been placed on how much money was fraudulently obtained.
The police starting an investigation in 2019 after a power company complained that people posing as its staff were calling customers to offer them a discount if they switched supplier.
In many cases, they made the change without the customer even knowing, in order to make money.
The new electricity supplier also filed a complaint with the police after hearing how they were getting their new clients.
A three phase police operation saw 44 arrests in 12 provinces including Barcelona, Cadiz, Castellon, Jaen, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Sevilla and Valencia.
18 of the detentions were administrators of telesales firms with stolen personal details being passed to third-party companies.
READ MORE:
- Costa Blanca fraudsters created 30 bogus companies to make €10 million by conning Spanish authorities
- Online fraudsters, including British man, stole identities to bag €2 million in Spain’s Valencia area
- Russian fugitive wanted for €1 million fraud is arrested on Spain’s Costa Blanca
