Spanish police arrest 43 over bank SMS scam that defrauded over 1.14 million euros

Arrests and charges

Spain's Policía Nacional has arrested 43 people in an operation against a criminal organisation that, according to police, defrauded 130 people by impersonating the anti-fraud departments of banks (Europa Press). Searches were carried out in Madrid and Cádiz, and ABC reports that more than half of the arrests were made in Madrid. The detainees are accused of belonging to a criminal group, fraud and money laundering. La Razón says 13 more people have given statements as investigated persons, bringing the operation to 95 people in total. The investigation remains open, and further arrests are not ruled out.

Arrested43

Other persons investigated13

Total under investigation95

Arrested

43

Other persons investigated

13

Total under investigation

95

Data from the article text

How the scheme worked

The group sent mass text messages to bank customers, mostly over 65, claiming a fraudulent transaction was under way on their accounts. The texts gave a phone number or web page to call to fix the problem. ABC says the senders altered the header data so the messages appeared in the same thread as earlier genuine bank texts, which made victims trust them. Before choosing targets, the group bought customer databases on the black market, and people with computing skills known as 'senders' cross-checked the data to pick the most vulnerable profiles. Europa Press adds that the group often knew the account limits and moved the money in one or several transfers, in some cases taking more than 45,000 euros from a single victim.

ABC also describes a relay technique that exploits NFC to intercept and forward communication between a bank card and a payment terminal, linked to contactless payments through Apple Pay or Google Wallet. ABC calls it one of the most novel techniques the group used.

Threats and unreported cases

Europa Press reports that when victims realised they were being defrauded, some received threatening messages that referred to their personal data and home addresses. The threats meant many victims never filed a complaint. ABC says the scale could be much larger than the figures so far, because records still pending analysis may reveal more cases. Police analysed 400 channels and groups of the messaging app, according to Europa Press. The number of people under investigation is also expected to keep growing as more data is examined, ABC reports.

Scale and timeline

Police said the investigation has identified 134 criminal acts with more than 1,140,000 euros defrauded, according to Europa Press and La Razón. ABC puts the total at close to 1.2 million euros in its own text and says the gang targeted at least 134 bank customers. The operation, called 'Llamada' by ABC, began about a year ago, when complaints from people defrauded through bank-branded messages started to accumulate. La Razón says agents learned of a messaging app in which several criminal groups coordinated fraud under fictitious identities. The police announcement came on Thursday, 12 November 2026.