06/11/2004 00:00
TW
0
Staff Reporter OFFICERS from the Technology Investigation section of the National Police force have traced a “phone fraud” company, whose victims include Balearic residents, to the mainland town of Elche and closed down its operations following three arrests.

The company had allegedly carried out telphone fraud in a range of provinces across the country.
Victims are randomly selected and told over the phone that they have won a prize or have to collect a parcel, but before doing so, they (the victims) are instructed to ring a number which begins with digits 906 or 805.

When the number is dialled and answered, the innocent caller is kept hanging on the line as long as possible while a sizeable bill builds up.
The police have also identified two other alleged fraudsters who have now “flown the nest” to Brazil. It is possible, say police sources, that one of them is the mastermind behind the “business”, 24-year-old Brazilian Luis Carlos C.C.

The shutdown operation began following a complaint lodged at the police station in Avilés on the mainland, where a woman confirmed having received a message on her answerphone, letting her know she had won a ham from a company calling itself “Jamones Manchego”.

The message gave an instruction for her to call a specific number, and when she did so, she was kept hanging on the line for 15 minutes until she started to suspect that the call had been part of a fraudulent “set up”.

Investigators discovered that the number given to her had been rented by a company called Premium Numbers SL, registered in Valencia, and managed by one of the men arrested in Elche, Rosario J.J.

The company managed telephone lines beginning with digits 906 and 805 as well as twenty more which were officially registered on 7 August, 2003 and were operative until 6 July this year.

Those now in custody have allegedly committed fraud on 26 occasions in the Spanish regions of Asturias, the Balearics, Aragon, Castilla y Leon, Andalucia, the Canary Islands and Murcia. “This type of fraud”, warned a police spokesman, “is becoming regular practice. The individual calls to victims are not categorised as criminal until they happen on a specific number of occasions. Nevertheless, due to the increase in this type of victimisation, the profits made by ‘business managers' of this kind are considerable”.