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The Braga Prosecutor’s Office accused 18 defendants of participating in a scheme that allowed more than 123 thousand euros to be withdrawn from bank accounts, after fraudulently obtaining data from users of the Banif and Montepio home banking platforms.
In a note published today on their page, the Porto District Attorney General declares that the Prosecutor’s Office determined that three defendants, between 2013 and 2014, “grouped together with people who are supposed to reside in Brazil, in order to obtain banking details fraud of the users of the “home banking” platforms of Banif and Montepio and to withdraw from the accounts to which they accessed the money they obtained with said data “.
To that end, “these alleged Brazilian people sent email messages to a large number of clients of the aforementioned banking institutions, as if they were emails from the bank itself, containing ‘links that, once activated, installed malicious software on the client’s computer, which began to register and transmit the necessary data to access the bank account. “
At this stage, using the same software and simulating the graphical presentation of the bank portal, a window was also presented to the user requesting data updates, a request that, if fulfilled, would lead the user to provide other data necessary for account movement. .
These data were, in particular, elements of access to the bank account, mobile phones associated with the service, security codes and elements of the parent card, among others.
Once these data were obtained, three defendants provided individuals who were willing, in exchange for monetary compensation, to have “mule accounts” at those two banking institutions, where the withdrawn monetary amounts with the usurped data were transferred.
These defendants would also be in charge of attracting merchants, with ATMs, who would be willing, through economic consideration, to make said terminal available to make debit card payments for so-called “mule accounts”, returning in cash the amount paid, “Since the transaction was simply simulated and served only to cover up or shuffle the trail of money.”
For this action, 15 defendants are accused, some as mule account holders, others for having made their contribution as merchants.
They will answer for a crime of criminal association and a crime of money laundering.
The Prosecutor’s Office determined that from August 2013 to May 2014, using this method, the other three defendants withdrew 123,339 euros from bank accounts, sending 77,864 euros to Brazil.
The difference will correspond to what the three defendants reserved for themselves and what they distributed in financial compensation to the other defendants for the service provided as mule account holders and ATM terminal facilitators to make payments that simulate transactions. .
These three defendants are charged with criminal association, computer fraud, qualified computer fraud, and money laundering.
The Office of the Prosecutor promoted that the three defendants be ordered to pay the State an amount of 123,339 euros, which corresponds to the advantage of the criminal activity they carried out.
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