The work of police officers from the Cybercrime Department mainly involves uncovering crimes committed on the Internet. “They use their skills and specialist equipment to ‘track down’ the perpetrators of prohibited acts. This work is primarily operational, which is why most cybercriminals are not even aware that they have become the focus of interest of officers specializing in this field,” explains junior asp. Aleksandra Pieprzycka from the press team of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław.
This was also the case a few days ago in Wrocław. The spokesperson:
While carrying out their work, police officers came across the trail of a person who, using one of the popular sales platforms, was defrauding other users by purchasing goods at their expense.
How did the underage perpetrators operate?
When police officers examined the details of these frauds, it turned out that the perpetrator first breached the security of accounts registered on the platform and then logged into them without authorization, thereby gaining access to all the user’s data.
They then changed the contact details, providing their own telephone number and email address. The next step was—of course, without the account owner’s knowledge—to order various products, with payment charged to the actual owner’s bank account. The parcels were sent to parcel lockers in Wrocław.
The police quickly tracked down the people carrying out the fraud in this way. The officers said: “Their arrest was only a matter of time.”
The first person connected with the scheme was arrested on Friday, immediately after collecting a parcel. To the officers’ surprise, he was a 16-year-old resident of Wrocław. Further actions by the police led to the arrest of his 14-year-old brother. The police also said: “It is known that several of their peers operated in a similar way. The teenagers thought they had devised the perfect plan to obtain the gifts they wanted before the holidays, but they overestimated their abilities.”
The young residents of Wrocław stored the parcels intercepted from the parcel lockers in their apartment, under the bed, so that their parents would not notice them. The items found in the apartment were secured by the police.
The two brothers spent the night after their arrest at the Police Juvenile Shelter. The following day, they were questioned and charged with committing a punishable act, and all the materials collected during the proceedings were forwarded to the court. “Cases involving minors are handled by Family and Juvenile Divisions, which may impose an educational measure appropriate to the act committed. The range of possible measures begins with a reprimand and ends with sending the minor to an educational center, or, in certain cases, even to a juvenile detention facility,” explains junior asp. Aleksandra Pieprzycka.
The case is developing, and further arrests cannot be ruled out.