Four individuals have been arrested in Lisbon on strong suspicion of engaging in crimes including qualified fraud, document forgery, computer fraud, and money laundering, as part of fraudulent banking operations, the Judiciary Police announced on Thursday.
The suspects include three men and a woman, aged between 30 and 60 years.
The investigation began last March, after a Portuguese bank reported that a client, residing in Angola, did not recognize banking transactions made in his name at a Lisbon branch, resulting in a loss of approximately 130,000 euros. The man claimed he did not carry out these operations as he was not in Portugal.
The Judiciary Police stated that the investigation uncovered the identities of the arrested individuals, among them a former banker who was found to have acted in collusion.
The criminal activities involved obtaining the client’s banking information, recruiting someone to impersonate the victim, forging a false identification document used by the impostor, and executing various subsequent banking operations to conceal and distribute the proceeds of the crime among all involved.
The Judiciary Police also conducted residential and non-residential searches, during which they seized documents, computer and telecommunications equipment, five vehicles, and, in coordination with judicial authorities, bank balances.
The detainees will be brought before a judge for the determination of appropriate precautionary measures.
The investigation is overseen by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Cascais.
