The Civil Police arrested two men suspected of belonging to an organized transnational group dedicated to committing economic and financial crimes. The scheme known as “CEO Fraud” managed to divert 1.2 million euros from companies in Canada and Italy to Portuguese bank accounts.
A arrested, this Tuesday, two men aged 22 and 30, suspected of falsification of documents, computer fraud and money laundering, through “CEO Fraud” fraud, this police force announced in a statement.
The “CEO Fraud” scam begins with sending emails or messages in which the scammer pretends to be a manager of a company or organization, asking an employee of that same company or organization to carry out bank transfers to accounts associated with the attacker.
The suspects, according to the PJ, defrauded companies in Canada and Italy, embezzling around 1.2 million euros. The amounts were transferred to accounts in Portugal, created specifically to receive this money, and which were quickly distributed to other bank accounts.
“The detainees will be presented to the competent judicial authority for first interrogation and application of coercive measures”, says the note.
