Month: February 2017

Dozens of Judicial Police inspectors carried out searches on 7^th February in an investigation involving hospitals in Lisbon, Almada, Setúbal, Portimão and Faro concerning contracts amounting to around two million damages to the state

The National Unit Against Corruption of the Judicial Police is investigating suspected crimes in the operation of bars and coffee shops in hospitals in Lisbon, Setúbal, Portimão and Faro. According to information gathered by the DN, dozens of UNCC inspectors carried out searches to collect documentation this Tuesday. The Judiciary called it “Operation Clean Dishes”.

The case involves, a public employee of the Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa, and her husband, an entrepreneur, who unlawfully disclosed various information on public tenders. The couple was made constuído defendido.

The Diarios de Noticais has reported that, the public servant was able to obtain information on proposals from other competitors who applied for bar and cafeteria contracts, informing her husband that, as an entrepreneur, she has always been able to present the lowest tenders, thus obtaining the winning bid. The amounts involved amount to around two million euros.

 

 

The Judiciary Police is conducting this Tuesday morning (7^th February) searches in Greater Lisbon related to suspected child pornography. The news was advanced by SIC and confirmed by the PUBLIC.

It is an international operation in which the Portuguese authorities also participate, after having identified servers that in several countries have access to content related to child pornography.

Police in different countries are acting at the same time to prevent suspects from having time to contact each other.

The operation takes place on the date of the Safe Internet Day. In Portugal it is the National Unit against Cybercrime of the Judicial Police that is carrying it out.

The Territorial Command of Madeira, through the Territorial Office of Funchal, seized yesterday, February 6, 2 785 euros and illicit gambling listings in Funchal.

As part of an operation to combat illegal gambling, the GNR visited several commercial establishments, where 2 785 euros were seized and several betting slips, referring to the commonly known ” Jogo do Bicho”, as well as several betting lists referring to another game and mutual bets commonly known as “Jogo do Arrebenta”  or “Loto of the Euromillions”, with values that amount to 5,000 euros.

The intrusion in emails is growing in Portugal, says PJ. GNR registered increased online loss

In a report in Diario de Noticais the PJ says that the new trend in cyberattacks is “CEO fraud.” It begins like this: a hacker accesses the protocol that identifies the computers of a company (the IP), and soon, to all the mails. The next step to intrude into the system is to send an e-mail by posing as the firm’s chief executive, giving direct orders to other executive positions to transfer thousands or millions of euros to certain accounts, on the pretext of getting a deal done.

Carlos Cabreiro, coordinator of the computer crime section of the Lisbon Judicial Police, told DN that “there are already dozens of cases in Portugal with” CEO fraud “and companies from all areas, injured in large thousands of euros.”

Today, European Secure Internet Day, it’s important to stress that “e-mail scams are taking on increasingly different forms and” CEO fraud “is just one of them.”

Each year, on average, there are more than 1,000 inquiries for computer crimes in the PJ of Lisbon. The most significant have been “crimes related to access to data and credentials of access to bank accounts, phishing, and also sexual extortion, which already reaches 80 cases per year in Lisbon alone.”

Although computer crimes are the sole responsibility of the Judicial Police, the GNR also investigates crimes committed using computers. In its territorial area, the National Republican Guard registered a 22% increase in the crime of desecration by computer, from 83 cases in 2015 to 102 in 2016, as DN Major Paulo Poiares pointed out. Debauchery is a way of humiliating someone by accessing, for example your Facebook profile to put a false message that denigrates the person. It also commits this crime to create or maintain files containing personal data that allow the identification of a particular person regarding political, religious or philosophical beliefs, party or trade union affiliation or privacy in general.

Also, the phenomenon of cyberbullying – or the persecution / humiliation of an adult or teenager through social networks – has been gaining more and more expression. According to Major Paulo Poiares, the GNR registered a total of 3224 complaints for defamation, libel and slander in 2016, most of them through the internet, in what was a rise of 3% of these three crimes that constitute cyberbullying.

The Guard also pointed out an increase in computer fraud in 2016: 3171 scams (291 more than in 2015). Most cases refer to schemes to victimize victims related to online shopping platforms. For example, platforms like OLX have been used by scammers to get easy money. As one police source told the DN, the fraudster places an advertisement for the sale of a mobile phone, the party transfers the money for payment and then never receives the mobile phone. Or the interested party receives at home the last generation camera that he had bought and which, after all, is a simple plastic machine.

The GNR also registered an increase in extortion by computer: 98 cases (22 more than in 2015). “We have noticed here a rise in cases of sexual extortion through the use of intimate photographs or videos to blackmail someone.” As the GNR official notes, what general crime data in 2016 will point out when the Annual Homeland Security Report is released in March, “is a decline in crime of crime but an increase in all Internet-related crime” .

To mark the European Safe Internet Day, Vodafone has released a survey of 5298 teenagers in 10 countries about their online habits. In Portugal, 200 adolescents were surveyed. In conclusion: 54% of Portuguese youth have “many friends” online that they have never met in real life. In this indicator, Portugal and Italy are the ones with the highest value. 37% of Portuguese adolescents know people who have created fake profiles to publish content or photographs on social networks. 70% have admitted that many people act differently online from what they are or do in real life. Positive note: 79% of young people received advice to be positive in social media, the highest percentage in 10 countries.

 

 

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence of up to 11 years in prison of 13 defendants charged with house breakings at residences in several northern districts.

The Oporto District Attorney General’s Office states that “it has been proven that the accused were aware of the absence of the inhabitants of the dwellings at the time of local festivities or events of family life announced, namely baptisms, weddings and funerals.

As for funerals, the defendants consulted the necrology pages of the newspapers.

The main defendant was sentenced to 11 years in prison for 19 felonies of qualified theft, a crime of detention of a prohibited weapon and a crime of arms trafficking.

Three other defendants were also sentenced to imprisonment for eight and a half years, seven years and three years and four months.

Of the remaining seven defendants, five were sentenced to suspended prison sentences and two sentenced to work in favour of the community.

These penalties were applied by the Tribunal of Braga and later confirmed by the Court of Relation of Guimarães and now by the “Supreme”.

The facts that motivated the convictions happened from February 16, 2013 to October 14, 2014 and reported on house breakingss, essentially houses of residence, carried out in the towns of Povoa de Varzim, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Braga, Vila Praia de Âncora, Viana do Castelo, Santo Tirso, Guimarães, Vila Verde, Vizela, Monção and Barcelos.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office estimates that goods and amounts have been stolen in an amount in excess of €326,000. Source Jornel de Noticias

According to the Judiciary Police, the suspects belong to a “criminal association”

Three men suspected of attempted murder of PSP agents, robbery of a security company and criminal association, among other crimes, were detained by the Judiciary Police, police said today.

The detainees, with a criminal record and now remanded in custody, are charged with belonging to a criminal association, two attempted murders of PSP agents, as well as a felony robbery classified as a security company employee, who was a member of the crew of vehicle transporting of valuable. The incident took place inside the premises of the Continent Supermarket of Barreiro, on 17th October of 2016. There were a total of five robbers.

In the course of this criminal action, there was a confrontation between the robbers and the PSP agents responding to the incident, which resulted in the death of one of the robbers and serious injuries in another.

The trio now held by the National Counterterrorism Unit (UNCT

At the time, the group assaulted the commercial area around 11:30 pm, near closing time. The first patrol car arriving at the scene was targeted.

The two police officers who first came to the scene also suffered injuries – one of them was even run over by the suspects.

The assailants were wearing caps, gloves and bulletproof vests, and the PSP recovered a pistol, a revolver, an automatic firearm and a shotgun used in the robbery.

The persons were now detained after evidence had been brought during the investigation that led to their identification as participants in the crimes identified above.

The detainees have criminal records, were subjected to the first judicial interrogation being applied to them coercion measure of probation

The National Republican Guard (GNR) and Microsoft Portugal are promoting, from tomorrow, February 7 to Friday, February 10, throughout the country, several actions to raise awareness of the “good practices” of navigating Online, as part of the European Secure Internet Day.

Under the motto “Mark the difference: United for a better Internet!”, this is the fourth year that GNR and Microsoft have partnered together to organize a campaign targeting children and youth, parents, In this edition to educational agents.

In 2016, GNR and Microsoft sensitized 75,000 students, gave 450 enlightenment sessions for students and registered 150 sessions for seniors with the support of more than 200 volunteers.

By 2017, the goal is to reach more than 90,000 students, 1,500 parents, 400 schools, 1,500 teachers and 2,000 seniors, with the support of more than 700 volunteers.

The awareness actions will be carried out by military personnel (320 in total) and by volunteers from Microsoft Portugal, who will address topics such as cyberbullying, identity theft, privacy, inaccuracy of information sources, computer viruses and dependence on Internet.

During the year 2016, 911 computer crimes were registered, 157 fewer than in 2015. Nevertheless, with the increase in technological resources, there has been an increase in other crimes related to the computer environment, such as the 3 171 Mockery (plus 291) and 98 extortions (plus 22).

The inaugural session will take place tomorrow, February 7, at Microsoft’s facilities at Parque das Nações next to the Oceanário (Rua do Fogo de Santelmo, Lot 2.07.02), at 10:00 am, where they will be around 340 children and youths, 70 seniors, 40 heads of education and 40 educational agents.

Two Argentinians arrested in Portugal last year were identified by Interpol and are among the top 10 most wanted criminals in South America.

According to the same source, the two Argentinians were identified as the perpetrators of serious crimes, such as homicide, abduction and extortion in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

The television station SIC Notícias on 4^th February stated that international authorities confirmed the identity of the two Argentines detained in Portugal in November last year for bank robberies between 2014 and 2016.

Judicial Police source contacted today by Lusa indicated that an extradition request is likely from the countries of Latin America where the two Argentines committed crimes, but will have to be tried and sentenced to comply with the sentences in Portugal.

The same source said that the two detainees kidnapped children of wealthy people in those countries, and asked for ransoms, even killing some of them, even after obtaining the money required.

Following the arrest in 2016 in Aveiro by the National Counter-Terrorism Unit (UNCT) of the Judiciary Police of a group of five individuals, the authorities sent Interpol photographs and fingerprints of three of them that had false identifications.

At the time, the Judiciary Police (PJ) had announced the dismantling of a “very violent” criminal structure of transnational nature that carried out assaults to armed banks in the Greater Lisbon area.

The five men, aged between 30 and 50, were arrested in Portugal on suspicion of crimes of criminal association, qualified robbery on bank premises, falsification of documents and possession of a prohibited weapon.

According to the PJ, this “very violent” criminal structure was suspected of having carried out five armed robberies on bank premises between mid-2014 and mid-year in the Greater Lisbon area, “carefully planned and executed.”

Of the five detainees, one was of Portuguese nationality, the other Spanish, and three submitted false documentation, which the police investigated.

During the police action and as a result of home searches, the PJ seized “relevant means of proof”, such as latex masks, wigs and helmets, various firearms and ammunition, vehicles and a vast collection of counterfeit documents.

The PJ, which classifies this police operation as complex, also said that the five detainees were remanded in custody after being present at the first judicial interrogation.

The operation was carried out by UNCT of the PJ, in a survey conducted by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) of Loures. Source Diario de Noticais

A goldsmith shop in the centre of the village of Ponte de Lima was the target of an attempted assault late 0n 3^rd February using firearms and what appears to be a sledge hammer.

The assailants’ action was recorded on video surveillance cameras, which show five hooded individuals firing with an automatic assault rife to try to enter the establishment, located in Largo de Camões.

In addition to firing at the jewellery showcase, the individuals also resorted to the use of a sledgehammer, but were unable to steal anything and immediately fled in two light cars.

The Criminal Investigation Nucleus of the GNR de Alenquer detained a 46-year-old man in Leiria for burglaries at residences in the districts of Porto, Viseu, Leiria, Santarém, Lisbon and Setúbal, which according to sources will have earned him more than one million euros.

The arrest took place following an investigation that had taken place since last July and which has now culminated in four home searches and three non-domiciliary searches in the counties of Alenquer, Leiria and Ourém, during which the military seized 483 items.

Among the products seized were televisions, computers, cameras, mobile phones, coffee machines, beverages, tools and, among many others, old national and foreign notes and coins.

The suspect was present at the court of Torres Vedras and was remanded in prison awaiting trial.