The Spanish police have dismantled a large-scale investment fraud operation that caused cumulative damages exceeding $11.8 million (€10 million).

During simultaneous raids in Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca, and Alicante, coordinated by the Mossos d’Esquadra, Civil Guard, and the National Police, 21 individuals were arrested.

Along with the arrests, the police agents also confiscated seven luxury vehicles and more than $1.5 million €1.3 million in cash and cryptocurrency.

The fraudsters appear to have started the operation in 2022 and, since then, authorities received more than three hundred complaints from victims across the country.

“They persuaded their victims to make fake investments through a network of fake advisors and experts, manipulated websites, and telephone call centers,” the police says.

“The group operated as a shell investment company advertising its services on social media. They offered investments in prestigious companies or in the cryptocurrency sector to lure their victims.”

The modus operandi is similar to “romance baiting” (“pig butchering”) scams, where fraudsters entice individuals via social media ads, abusing legitimate brands and including fake testimonials.

Next, the scammers directed victims to fake cryptocurrency, forex, tech stocks, or gold investment portals, which show fake profits on the dashboard and even allow small withdrawals at the start.

Once bigger investments occur, withdrawals are locked, and the scammers impose “clearance taxes” or “processing fees” to victims that want to recover their money, but only to steal even more from them.

In organized operations like the one dismantled by the Spanish police, scammers use call centers that mimick professional investment firms, with operators trained with scripts and psychological manipulation techniques.

The police say the Barcelona-based call centers supporting the operation were rented for three to four months to hinder investigations, and feature a “panic button” that would automatically shut down all systems in case of a police raid.

The presence of such call centers in Spain is unusual, as these are typically hosted in Asian or Eastern European countries where evading law enforcement is easier.

Last week, authorities in Spain dismantled an even larger cryptocurrency investment fraud ring that laundered over $540 million (€460 million) stolen from 5,000 victims worldwide.

In April 2025, the Spanish police arrested six individuals who used AI to generate fraudulent investment ads, tricking over 200 victims into giving them 19 million euros ($20.9 million).