November 2010 News about counterfeit bills

November 2010 News about counterfeit bills
Current News about counterfeit money and anti-fraud efforts
An undetermined number of counterfeit 50 euro bills

Courts.- The Court sentences 4 people to two years in prison for possession of counterfeit currency for distribution.
MURCIA, Nov 28. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The Provincial Court has sentenced three men aged 29, 22 and 19, as well as a 20-year-old woman, to two years in prison each, as responsible authors of a crime of illicit possession of counterfeit currency for its subsequent distribution, specifically, of an "indeterminate" number of 50 euro bills, while imposing a joint fine of 650 euros on them.
The facts were discovered when two of the accused, after carrying out the fake money transaction, had an accident when their car left the A-7 highway. Two other passengers died as a result of the crash, and rescue workers found 13 counterfeit 50 euro notes next to one of the bodies.
The events date back to January 21, 2004, when three of the accused, acting in common agreement, traveled from Novelda (Alicante) to Murcia with the intention of attending the meeting that one of them had arranged with the fourth accused, who was supposed to hand over an unspecified number of 50 euro bills that were in his possession, in exchange for a previously agreed upon price.
Indeed, the meeting took place in Murcia where the agreed transaction was carried out. According to the sentence, consulted by Europa Press, the receivers intended to distribute the counterfeit money.
Two of them returned to Novelda, but another stayed in Murcia, where he resided, and he had a traffic accident on the A-7 highway, which involved the vehicle he was traveling in leaving the road and subsequently falling down a slope, resulting in the tragic outcome of two of the occupants dying and the remaining passengers being injured.
During the rescue efforts, while the agents were collecting documents and other items scattered in the area near the disaster, 13 counterfeit 50 euro bills were recovered next to one of the bodies, as per the facts reported by the Public Prosecutor's Office and declared proven because they were expressly recognized by the accused.
The Public Prosecutor's Office classified the proven facts as constituting a crime of possession of counterfeit currency for subsequent distribution, for which it considered the four defendants to be the authors. It requested a sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 650 euros, as well as one month of subsidiary personal liability and costs to be divided into quarters, in addition to the confiscation and destruction of the counterfeit money.
The defenses of the accused agreed to this classification and the defendants expressed their agreement with the facts and requested penalties.
In addition, the Court decreed the confiscatory loss and destruction of the counterfeit money seized, and disqualified all the defendants from the right to passive suffrage during the time of the sentence, and to the payment of costs.
 
 
The AEAT will dedicate itself in 2011 to pursue the underground economy.

Economy/Tax.- The Treasury collects 8.200 billion from fraud control until October, a 25% increase
Electricity consumption, credit card usage and transactions over 3,000 euros, new tools in the fight against fraud.

MADRID, 15 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
 
The Treasury collected 8.200 billion euros during the first ten months of the year in the fight against fraud, which represents a 25% increase compared to the figure recorded in the same period of 2009, according to the director of the Tax Agency (AEAT), Juan Manuel López Carbajo.
These 8.2 billion euros already exceed the amount raised in all of 2009, which stood at 8.119 billion euros. According to López Carbajo, these revenues are derived, especially, from a larger contribution from inspection work on large taxpayers. In fact, the average initiated debt amounts to about 175,000 euros.
At an informational breakfast organized by the Association of Economic Information Journalists (APIE), López Carbajo pointed out that the direct collection from control actions amounted to 6.9 billion, a 22% increase, while the collection from the induced effect - voluntary regularizations-, was 1.3 billion euros, a 40% increase from 2009.
  
Revenues from control actions since 2005 amounted to 43.800 billion euros, a figure that the general director of the Tax Agency described as "very respectable", especially in the current financial circumstances.
 
Moreover, López Carbajo has assured that the investigations into the circulation of fake 500 euro bills They generated revenues of 1.060 billion euros for the body dependent on the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
 
Likewise, the general director of the AEAT has indicated that the monitoring of 500 euro bills is a field of investigation "that still has a way to go" in view of the fact that the initiated debt continues to yield "good results."
 
On the other hand, López Carbajo has highlighted that the cash income of the AEAT until September has increased by 13% year-on-year, five percentage points more than initially expected (8%), although he anticipated that this pace is likely to moderate in the third quarter in line with the worse performance of the economy.
 
At this point, López Carbajo has emphasized that VAT revenues have increased by 50%, compared to the anticipated 35%, which has offset the falls in income tax or the Corporate Tax. At this point, he explained that this increase is due to the decrease in the amount of refunds, the slowdown in deferment requests, and the improvement in consumption.
 
THE TAX BENEFITS OF CORPORATIONS, QUITE GENEROUS.
 
Regarding the fall in Corporate tax revenue, López Carbajo has explained that a large part of the profits of companies, which are falling due to the current situation, come from abroad and do not pay taxes in Spain, although he has also taken the opportunity to describe the tax benefits linked to this tax as "quite generous".
Regarding the open investigation into the accounts at the Swiss subsidiary of HSBC, López Carbajo has noted that almost half of the taxpayers under investigation --about 300 people-- have already regularized their situation with the tax authority, which has allowed the collection of around 260 million.
Another 250 taxpayers have either not regularized or have done so unsatisfactorily, and another 100 people have not responded to the request. That said, it has been clarified that the process is ongoing and "will not be a matter of two months."
 
GREATER PERSECUTION OF THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY.
 
On the other hand, López Carbajo, who has denied that the improvement in VAT collection is solely the result of a greater fight against the underground economy, has acknowledged, however, that this will be one of the strong points in the strategy of the fight against fraud for 2011.
"It is necessary to highlight the monitoring of the underground economy" and carry out "an additional control," emphasized the general director of the AEAT, who has indicated that this is expected to be carried out in conjunction with the Labor Inspection and Social Security.
Furthermore, he has specified that the monitoring of fraud control will focus on liberal professions and investigations in companies, not only in the usual sectors, but "in most of them". "We are going to aim high," he added.
 
On the other hand, López Carbajo has highlighted that the AEAT is already conducting investigations using new sources of information, such as electricity consumption, credit card usage, and also cash transactions of more than 3,000 euros, which will give a new boost to the fight against fraud in 2011.
CONCERN ABOUT STAFF REDUCTION.
  
 
 
 The Civil Guard arrests two fraudsters in La Rioja who used the "tinted bills" method.
LOGROÑO, 16 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
 
Officers from the Xª Zone of the Civil Guard in La Rioja belonging to the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police have arrested two people, as alleged perpetrators of a fraud crime, committed by the method of "tinted bills" or negative scam.
The modus operandi of the scammers consisted of making their victim believe that they wanted to buy agricultural machinery to transport it to their country, as their family had businesses there.
After setting up a first meeting, the scammers tell their victim that they have a lot of money to pay, showing them a €500 note with a black inscription that says 'UN', indicating that the money comes from their country, as a relative of theirs works for the government. They claim the inscription is there because the money comes from humanitarian aid, and that they keep 70 percent of this aid and deliver the remaining 30 percent to the country. However, they claim that with a special product, the mark can be removed, leaving the banknote in perfect condition.
Next, they demonstrate by pouring a special product on the mark, leaving the bill clean. To give credibility to the whole operation, they hand the bill to the victim and invite them to go to a bank to exchange it, thus proving that the bill is authentic. After this, the scammers ask the victim for money to bring more bills from their country, to which the victim agrees (on this occasion they gave 2,000 euros), agreeing to arrange another meeting.

In a second meeting, the scammers tell the victim that they have received a suitcase from their country filled with banknotes worth a million euros, but they don't have enough product to clean them, asking for a financial contribution to purchase it, given that it is very expensive and not manufactured in Spain. The victim, driven by their desire to make a quick profit without any risk, hands over a sum of money (6,000 euros) for the purchase of the products, and the scammers leave the suitcase as a guarantee, promising to arrange another meeting when they have the products. As the days pass, the victim realizes they have been scammed, and the suitcase that was left as a guarantee only contains cut out black cardboard.
In this operation, the agents have carried out a house search where they have confiscated a briefcase containing 22 packages of black money, these are the size of a 500 euro bill (each package contains approximately 410 bills).
In addition, they have located 10 counterfeit 500 euro bills; necessary tools for the commission of the investigated crimes such as masks, gloves, syringes, and the alleged chemical products used to clean the marks off the bills.
The detainees are two males aged 36 and 39, originally from Cameroon and residing in Zaragoza, both of whom have prior records for similar offenses committed throughout the national territory.
The detainees had enough material to have defrauded more than four and a half million euros. After the instruction of the corresponding proceedings, these along with the detainees have been made available to the judiciary.
THE SCAM
It is also known as the negative scam and although there are variations, almost all of them agree on the essential aspects of the dubious origin of the money, the inked cardboard, the revealing liquids, the bills tinted the same color as the cardboard that serve as bait to the victim, and the significant economic benefit that is obtained.
There are numerous precedents for this type of crime in European Union countries, and the first instances of this nature were detected in Spain in June 1999. The people involved in these types of events are usually of African origin and operate in organized groups made up of an indeterminate number of people who share the tasks, such as victim recruitment, hotel booking and surveillance.
 
The City Council will send safety alerts to merchants via SMS.
SAN FERNANDO DE HENARES, 11 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
   The City Council of San Fernando de Henares will send security alerts to the merchants of the town through messages to their mobile phones, warning them of attempts at fraud, scams, counterfeit bills or other crimes that have been committed in their area. With this new service, the City Council aims to help merchants detect and prevent situations that could affect their establishments.
"What will be implemented is a system via SMS, providing direct notice to merchants of significant security incidents that may arise or exist within the municipality. A very graphic example would be, at a moment when a counterfeit money incident occurs, it would go directly to the mobile phones of the merchants who have previously given us their number. With this system, what we want is to have a more direct relationship with the commerce and that any incident that may arise within the municipality reaches them directly on their mobile phone," explained the Councilor for Security, Carmen Muñoz.
Merchants who want to receive the alerts will only need to authorize the use of their number by registering for the service. At the same time as the alert system is implemented, both the National Police and Local Police will offer informative talks to merchants about security measures and recommendations to prevent potential crimes.
 
Three arrested in Leon and 395 grams of cocaine and 9,815 euros seized in the second phase of operation 'Evora'
The first phase ended with five arrests, one of whom was carrying around 600 grams of cocaine in his stomach.

LEÓN, 8 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
Officers from the Civil Guard of the Leon Command arrested three people in Leon as alleged perpetrators of a crime against public health in the form of drug trafficking and seized 395 grams of cocaine as part of the execution of the second phase of operation 'Evora'.
This operation began last May and was aimed at locating and identifying a group of people who could introduce and distribute narcotic substances, mainly cocaine, in the province of León.
On the past 13th of October, agents initiated the exploitation phase of the said operation, which resulted in five arrests and the seizure of a car, 960 euros in cash, 500 euros in counterfeit 50 euro notes, and 600 grams of cocaine, which was nearly entirely carried by one of the detainees, according to sources from the General Directorate of Police and the Civil Guard.
The individuals arrested at that time, all of them as alleged perpetrators of a crime against public health in the form of drug trafficking, were R.C.A.C., 35 years old, originally from Cuba and residing in León; C.E.A., 47 years old, originally from the Dominican Republic and resident of León; L.S.R., 44 years old, originally from Cuba and resident of León; M.S.R., 18 years old, originally from the Dominican Republic and living in Madrid. F.A.M.M., 35 years old, originally from the Dominican Republic and resident of Madrid.
During yesterday's operation, the civil guards in charge of the investigation decided to conclude the operation, so they arrested three people and conducted two searches in two homes in the capital and the town of Villaobispo de las Regueras.
In these operations, 395 grams of cocaine, 375 grams of a substance commonly used to cut it, 9,815 euros in cash, two precision scales, mobile phones, and a vehicle were seized.
The three detainees, all of them accused of a crime against public health in the form of drug trafficking, are S.M.P., 31 years old, originally from Asturias and living in León; J.P.M., 32 years old, originally from the Dominican Republic and living in León and G.D.K., 34 years old, originally from Bulgaria and resident of Villaobispo de las Regueras.
FINAL RESULT
Finally, the result of operation 'Evora' is the arrest and court appearance of eight people, in addition to the seizure of 995 grams of cocaine, 10,775 euros in cash, 500 euros in counterfeit 50 euro bills, two precision scales, two cars and several mobile phones.
The detainees, along with the proceedings instructed and the items seized, are at the disposal of the Duty Instruction Court of León and the drugs will be sent to the Health and Consumption Unit of the Government Sub-delegation in León for their weighing and analysis.
16 suspects of an Islamist cell arrested in Italy
ROME, Nov 9. (EUROPA PRESS) -

   At least 16 suspects, including two Italians, have been arrested this Tuesday in Italy as part of an investigation against an Islamist cell that specialized in the production and trafficking of fake identity documents and facilitated illegal immigration and the receipt of counterfeit bills.
 
Among those arrested in the 'Matmata' operation carried out by carabinieri from the anti-terrorist unit, ROS, include citizens of Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan nationality, in addition to the two Italians, reports the ADN-Kronos agency. The arrests have taken place in Naples (south), Rome and Milan (north). In addition to the arrests, about twenty searches have been conducted.
According to the ROS, the terrorist cell had "a network with intercontinental projection." Likewise, the anti-terrorist unit highlighted that the forgery of documents for illegal entry into the country of immigrants represented "a risk factor due to the possibility of infiltration by subversive individuals."
The investigation had begun two years ago and today's arrests are a continuation of another blow that a few years ago allowed the discovery of the presence of a Salafist cell in Lombardy and Veneto and the arrest and subsequent conviction of three Algerians for terrorism.
According to 'La Repubblica', the cell had its operational base in Naples, whose Prosecutor's Office coordinated the operation, and among its members there would also be Egyptian and Ghanaian citizens.
 
 

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