smishing smashed | 

Two men arrested and Range Rover, cash and phones seized in Dublin garda raids

“This money came from victims of mainly smishing frauds in Ireland”

Today at 12:55

Two men have been arrested and a high-end Range Rover seized as gardaí raided a house in Dublin yesterday amid a global crackdown on the international Black Axe crime gang.

One man, in his early 20s, was identified by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) as a suspected “money mule herder” who had been recruiting money mules and managing their bank accounts.

Gardaí say that as many as 50 different money mules have been identified as having laundered over €196,000 through his bank accounts in Ireland, Germany and Belgium.

“This money came from victims of mainly smishing frauds in Ireland, was initially laundered through these 50 money mule accounts and then forwarded by the money mules to the suspects’ three bank accounts,” a garda spokesperson said.

The search was conducted as part of a larger investigation into incidents of fraud in Norway, Germany, the USA, Hawaii, and Ireland and the subsequent laundering of money through money mule accounts, businesses and trade-based money laundering operations.

During the search in Tallaght, gardaí seized a Range Rover, which is suspected to have been purchased with the proceeds of crime, as well as a number of passports and cash in euros and dollars.

Bank cards in family names and names of suspected money mules as well as bank account details and details of registered companies and businesses were also seized alongside a cash counting machine, 30 mobile phones and a desktop computer and laptop

“A man in his early 20s was arrested for an offence contrary to the Criminal Justice Act 2006 and is currently detained at a garda station in Dublin,” gardaí said.

“This male was identified as being a suspected money mule herder recruiting money mules and managing their bank accounts.”

Another man, in his 50s, was also arrested during the search for immigration offences and was later refused leave to land. He is being detained pending his removal from this jurisdiction.

Investigations are ongoing.

The Garda search was carried out as part of Operation Skein which is the Irish arm of Operation Jackal, the Interpol-led international police operation targeting the infamous ‘Black Axe’ gang.

Some of the people taken down in Ireland as part of the operation range from ‘high-ranking’ lieutenants to those foolish enough to let the mob use their accounts to launder cash.

Ireland became a stronghold for the gang, which originated in Africa in the 1970s but has tentacles around the world, and gardaí have been at the forefront of a major crackdown on their operations.

Black Axe is the main cyber-crime gang operating in Ireland and is involved in a large number of frauds, such as business email compromise (BEC) scams, romance frauds and fake ‘e-retailer’ schemes.

Gardaí and Interpol announced this week how authorities around the world were involved in a period of joint international law enforcement action against Black Axe, which mostly took place April and May.

The operation led to dozens of raids and arrests in counties across Ireland.

Among those arrested was a 40-year-old woman based in Clondalkin in Dublin who is considered to be one of the main players in the gang in Ireland.

The woman is suspected of running a large Irish network, which includes a bank employee who was also arrested as part of Operation Skein.

The operation began with a request for assistance from another EU country via EUROPOL in early 2020 after €1.1m was stolen in a BEC fraud and laundered through Asia. The fake emails originated from Ireland.

Ireland has also been a key location where the gang recruit ‘money mules’ who allow the gang to use their accounts to transfer the stolen funds.

Numerous Irish businesses have been victims of the scams.

However, gardaí have had major success against Black Axe and similar gangs operating here in recent years.

While the online world is where the gang commits fraud, there have been a number of violent incidents linked to Black Axe in Ireland, including petrol bomb attacks.

A man arrested and convicted last year told gardaí how another person above him received a threat to his life from the gang.