Game over for match fixers
More than 30 football games are being investigated
A TOTAL of 23 members of an alleged betting syndicate have been arrested on suspicion of fixing football games in Spain.
Among those detained are several footballers suspected of having used their position to steer the outcome of games which they participated in, explained a Europol spokesman.
In all, they managed to defraud around €500,000, according to the National Police.
The investigation is continuing into games in competitions operated by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the Gibraltar National League and the Andorra League, noted a force spokesman.
The arrests took place in the provinces of Badajoz, Cádiz, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Tenerife and the autonomous city of Ceuta.
The Europol spokesman noted that the operation ‘follows the arrest of 21 other members of the same criminal organisation in 2021’.
Known as Operation Conifera, the investigation into match-fixing was carried out by the National Police in a joint operation with Europol and Interpol.
A total of 30 football matches are currently being investigated in the case, noted the spokesman.
“The profits generated are estimated at over half a million euros,” he explained.
“The investigators were able to uncover, with Europol’s support, how this betting syndicate operated.”
‘Top-down operational business model’
At the top of the criminal structure were two leaders ‘who had close connections with football players and backroom staff’, stated the spokesman.
“The intermediaries were responsible for the coordination of the match-fixing schemes, while the corrupted athletes would provide confidential information in order to influence matches,” he said.
“This organised crime group also relied on mules who would place sports bets at bookmakers and collect the prize money.”
They also had a ‘network of procurers responsible for providing identities for online betting on rigged matches’.
The procurers were paid between €4,000 and €24,000 per online account.
The criminals used encrypted means of communication in order to avoid police detection.
Europol and match-fixing
Europol’s support was central in the development of the Spanish investigation, said the spokesman.
“Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre has been providing continuous intelligence development and analysis to map out the different targets and their criminal activity,” he noted.
“A specialised officer was deployed to Spain to provide on-the-spot operational and analytical support to the national investigators.
“Europol has a team of experts working with law enforcement authorities across the EU to identify links between suspicious matches and suspects, and to uncover the organised crime groups orchestrating these multi-million euro frauds against sport.”