Colombia: Aa gang that defrauded thousands of people and stole more than $5 billion

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The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation indicted 24 people before the Second Municipal Promiscuous Court with a function of control of guarantees of Quimbaya, Quindío, for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime, aggravated fraud in mass modality, aggravated violation of personal data and non-consensual transfer of assets.

The investigation carried out by a prosecutor from the Support Structure of the Quindío Section, with the support of Sijín and Incocrédito, revealed that the defendants, apparently, are part of the Organized Common Crime Group (Gdco) The Call Center, with interference in the Coffee Axis.

In accordance with the provisions, those now prosecuted allegedly managed seven front call centers located in Quimbaya , Quindío, Manizales, Caldas, and Dosquebradas, Risaralda, where they exercised roles as owners, liaisons with banks, administrators, supervisors and advisers, to deceive the victims.

It is presumed that they bought financial databases with information reserved to access customers, whom they called posing as bank advisers, to affiliate them with different products or make them acquire portfolios of services that they had never requested, under the pretext that it was mandatory receive insurance or that they were recipients of a gift, as well as handling fee waivers.

Due to these facts, the judge sheltered the 24 investigated with custodial and non-custodial security measures, as follows:

Intramural detention for the majority of the alleged ringleaders

• Mr. Betancur Montes

• Estefanía CG

• Juan Manuel CG

Home detention

• María Eugenia RT (alleged leader)

• D. Obando Valencia (alleged leader)

• Erika G. Ma.

• Yesenia SL

Non-custodial measures

• YD López Villa

• Zaira Patricia PD

• Jenny Carolina VL

• Manuela CG

• Yenny Natalia RM

• Sara Inés RC

• Diana Patricia AC

• Astrid Carolina AJ

• Sandra VC

• María Camila VA

• Natalia AL

• María Antonia OC

• Yolima ZC

• Erika GC

• Paola Jiseth DR

• Carmen Emilia Á. B. (accused at liberty)

• F. Ramírez Mejía (accused at liberty)

Through the investigation in which sufficient material probative elements and physical evidence were collected, it was determined that 16 national banks and 4 international banks were affected , with a confirmed fraud of $ 5,062,904,251.

Likewise, financial data of 18,470 people were found in Colombia and other countries , and 6,929 records referring to claims of fraud, non-consensual purchases or without specification of the type of claim, of which more than 3,500 victims were identified.

Legally obtained interceptions account for the way in which the databases would have been purchased, as well as the exchange and commercialization of data reserved for making non-consensual purchases in different commercial establishments.

The suspects were captured in the middle of six raids carried out by members of the Sijín on September 15 in Manizales and Villamaría, Caldas, and Pereira and Dosquebradas, Risaralda, achieving the seizure of 116 hard drives, 2,300 pages with databases, 5 cell phones, 4 computers, a car for domain extinction purposes and two buildings for confiscation purposes.