483,000 Victims: Phone Unlocking Scam Busted by Europol

Europol, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies across Europe and Latin America, conducted a successful operation to dismantle an international criminal network. This group specialized in illegally unlocking stolen or lost mobile phones using a phishing platform.

According to the investigation, more than 483,000 people worldwide fell victim to the fraudsters. Most of the affected were Spanish-speaking citizens from Europe, North, and South America, who were attempting to regain access to their phones.

The large-scale operation, which took place from September 10 to 17, involved law enforcement and judicial authorities from Spain, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The operation resulted in 17 arrests, 28 searches, and the seizure of 921 assets, mostly mobile phones, as well as other electronic devices, vehicles, and firearms.

The main suspect in the case was an Argentine citizen who administered the phishing platform. He has been developing and providing phishing services since 2018. Over the past five years, the criminal had sold access to his website, charging additional fees for phishing, SMS, emails, and phone calls. The platform’s users, known as “unlockers,” offered phone unlocking services to other criminals who possessed stolen devices.

Investigators uncovered more than 2,000 “unlockers” registered on the phishing platform throughout its existence. The criminal network is believed to have unlocked over 1.2 million mobile phones.

For the first time, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) coordinated an international operation alongside Ameripol’s Specialized Cybercrime Centre. The investigation began in 2022 after receiving information from the private firm Group-IB. Europol provided participating countries with special data packages related to the case, enabling the identification of most victims and facilitating action against the criminal network.