The gang that swindled Neuquén merchants

Both he and Verón were convicted and were operating from the prisons where they remain detained and that is why they will add years to the effective prison sentences they were already serving.

Others (Daniel Fuentes Serrano, Alex Pacheco, Gabriela Maza, Carla Antolini and Tamara Figueroa) were declared responsible as members with a minor participation in the crimes, so They will serve conditional execution sentences.

But specifically, what was the role of each member within the band and how were the scams committed?

The scam, step by step

The case refers to the fraud against the Pasteur Clinic, which also recently reached a resolution through an agreement of the parties. There are several defendants, different roles and a series of mechanized steps aimed at generating enrichment for those involved. However, in this case it was not a scam against a single organization and the mechanics consisted of more than diverting funds to different accounts.

As discovered by the prosecutor’s office led by prosecutor Juan Manuel Narváez, along with the investigation carried out by the Economic Crimes Department, the criminal organization was dedicated to defraud merchants from online purchases using credit cardsand committed the proven acts between January 2021 and July 2022.

The prosecutor in the case described that the scams were configured from a five step maneuverwhich began with social engineering tasks to obtain credit card data that would later be used to carry out the scams.

To commit fraudulent behavior, this criminal gang launched a series of premeditated and well-oiled steps among all the members, which began when Antolini – from Prison 1 in Viedma – or Verón – from Police Station 19 in the Confluencia neighborhood – called by phone. to different subscriber numbers, and when they were attended to by the users of the line, they displayed an action consisting of pretending to be personnel from a company, using assumed names, and as a result, they deceived people in order to obtain your personal information and your cards.

After having obtained all this data, they called commercial establishments in different areas and made large purchases. To do this, they communicated by telephone and after speaking with the seller, they asked him to generate payment buttons for them to be able to pay for the purchase.

The seller generated these payment buttons or links and sent them through WhatsApp instant messaging and, finally, the band member used the credit card data acquired in the previous step to complete the payment for the purchase. .

From there, they sent – by that same means – the proof of payments to the seller. Then, the fraudster managed with the store’s seller the withdrawal of the goods purchased through a close friend or another member of the gang or through a freight company that worked on his behalf and, in this way, he took possession of the merchandise.

Later, these payments were unknown to the cardholders, generating a discount for the value of the purchase made by the members of the gang, thus causing financial damage to the merchants.

According to the investigation, only Javier Antolini and Verón were in charge of deploying this mechanized behavior, from the call to obtain card data, to the negotiations with the merchants for the withdrawal of the merchandise.

Then, and given that both were in the context of confinement, it was the turn of their gang accomplices: Pacheco, Fuentes Serrano, Maza – Javier Antolini’s partner -, Figueroa – Verón’s partner – and Antolini’s sister were in charge of remove and store all products at different addresses.

Some of the items went to the construction of their own homes and the inventory for them, although it is estimated that another large portion of the merchandise was destined to be resold. Precisely, the investigators determined that it was Fuentes Serrano who was in charge of reselling these products at a price lower than the market price and then distributing the profits with the rest of the members of the gang, mainly with the boss Antolini.

Precisely, although merchandise was found in the homes of each defendant, the bulk of what was illegally obtained was found in Fuentes Serrano’s home for this reason, when the Police came with a search warrant in July 2022. The neighbors were stunned when see everything they took out of their house, where their office also operated: kitchens, bicycles, air conditioners, televisions, heaters, chairs, mattresses and more.

The proven facts

Although the members of the band were initially charged with more than 10 acts of fraud, the agreement finally included four that were widely proven and which allowed, without leaving any room for doubt, to impose the sentences.

One of the characteristics of these purchases, surely as an attempt to make the expenses go unnoticed by the real card holders, was that Antolini and Verón They used more than one card to pay for the same purchase, reaching the point of using up to 25 different cards with the same merchant.

In January 2021, they purchased construction elements for 262 thousand pesos, which were paid with two different cards. A freight took the merchandise to the address of one of the defendants and only in March, two months later, the purchases were unknown.

In February of that same year and in just two different purchases, the scammers bought more materials in another store, causing damage of $2,111,557 when paying in parts with 25 different cards. The merchandise was removed by Pacheco, who arrived at the warehouse in a truck to transport everything.

Another scam occurred between March and April 2021, when they defrauded the same business in the purchase of cold cuts, snacks and soft drinks for a total of 695 thousand pesosdamage that they generated through 10 different purchases and whose merchandise was removed on several occasions by a taxi, so that the defendants avoided showing their faces so much.

Finally, in June 2022 and through two purchases with three different cards on each occasion, they bought two expensive bicycles for a total of $821,714.

These four facts were what comprised the scam and with which the prosecution closed the case, convicting the first part of the gang. If new acts are committed, those who enjoy their freedom will be at risk of ending up behind bars just like the ringleaders.

However, this is not all, since three other people investigated for being part of the band and who for different reasons did not participate in the agreement – Paola Maza, Romina Maza and Jonathan Frugone – will continue to be charged and subject to the investigation due to the evidence that weighs Against them.

familiar faces

The case also has another peculiarity. Several familiar faces in the criminal environment, specifically three:

– Javier Antolinithe “leader” of the gang 7 year prison sentence in Detention Unit No. 1 of Viedma for aggravated robbery in General Roca.

-For his part, the second most senior member of the scam gang, Lucas Veronthis convicted of a crime occurred in January 2021 in Valentina Sur and since his confinement he has been composing songs about the freedom that he dreams of one day recovering.

–Romina Mazanot convicted but still charged, also has her own cases of fraud and has given the prosecutor’s office headaches on more than one occasion, although she still has no convictions.