Investigation into a fake bank employee who scammed a resident of Algete out of €3,750

The Civil Guard is investigating an alleged scammer who posed as bank staff. The victim transferred €3,750, of which €2,000 was recovered.

The Civil Guard is investigating an alleged scammer who pretended to be a bank employee and deceived a resident of Algete into transferring €3,750, according to fuentesinformadas.com. The case has been processed as a vishing fraud, meaning a scam committed over the phone.

The victim received a call informing him of two transfers held in his account, for €5,735 and €5,800. Shortly after, another person claiming to work for his bank asked him to perform operations to cancel those transactions. To do this, he requested remote access to his computer via the AnyDesk application, from where he managed the operations on the bank's website.

Following his instructions, the resident made an initial transfer of €3,750. When asked for a second transfer of €3,800, he became suspicious of the scam and halted the operation. He then called his bank directly, which confirmed the fraud, and filed a report through the Civil Guard's electronic headquarters.

The Cyber Command, a newly created unit that assists citizens through telematic means, opened the investigation. Its specialists analysed the victim's data, reconstructed the functioning of the fraud, and traced the money. The agents managed to block €2,000 of the amount and return it to the complainant, preventing the alleged perpetrator from accessing that sum.

The investigation was supported by the Civil Guard station in Dos Hermanas (Seville), and the proceedings have been made available to the competent judicial authority in that locality.

The Civil Guard recommends being wary of SMS messages and not opening any links they contain, only shopping on secure websites, and not accepting unexpected job offers via social media. They also advise requesting enhanced authentication from the bank for all payments and blocking cards at any suspicion of third-party use. If someone falls victim to fraud, they should report it as soon as possible, request a refund from the bank, and keep payment details, such as the destination account or the phone number used in a Bizum.