The man forged documents to transport illegal money

The Judicial Police (PJ) arrested a man suspected of aggravated forgery, qualified fraud and money laundering, who used false identities to open bank accounts and transfer illegally obtained amounts, police said on Wednesday.

The arrest of the 45-year-old suspect was carried out outside the law, as part of an investigation carried out by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Affairs (DIAP) of Faro with the cooperation of GNR Mertola, PJ said in a statement.

“The criminal activity of the detainee consisted of creating companies that did not conduct any activities, using several fictitious names, in the name of which he opened dozens of bank accounts in credit institutions located throughout the country,” the police said.

The same source clarified that after opening the accounts, they received “transfers of large amounts” that were “obtained illegally” through the use of cyber attacks “commonly known as ‘man in the middle’ or ‘CEO’ attacks.” – Fraud (business email compromise).”

The joint venture emphasized that the suspect sought to hide the illegal origin of the credited amounts and made transfers to other bank accounts, “receiving a percentage of the transactions.”

During the activities that led to the identification and arrest of the suspect, investigators discovered and seized “important evidence” but are still investigating “with a view to determining the extent of this criminal activity,” the judicial police said.

The detainee will appear before the court for the first judicial interrogation, and at the end of the interrogation he will learn about the coercive measures taken, the joint venture also noted.