The Judiciary Police, through the National Unit to Combat Cybercrime and Technological Crime, arrested on Wednesday, March 25th, 18 individuals suspected and strongly indicted for the crimes of counterfeiting and using cards or other payment devices, computer fraud and money laundering.
Among those detained are 13 men and five women, aged between 23 and 51.
These arrests were made as part of the Swipe and Cash operation, carried out in the urban areas of Greater Lisbon, Almada, Setúbal, Torres Vedras, Aveiro and Porto, where 22 home and non-domestic search warrants were executed.
This investigation began in November 2025, following a complaint from the Anti-Fraud and Regularization Department (Pay Watch) of SIBS – Forward Payment Solutions, after detecting suspicious transactions, worth half a million euros, in the electronic payment processing system. These transactions had been carried out with cards issued by banking entities mainly in Southwest Asia.
The investigation led to the conclusion that they were counterfeit cards, used between October 26 and 31, 2025 in automatic payment terminals (TPA) contracted by companies established in national territory and controlled by them.
In this scheme, around 620 transactions were registered, with a global value of 1,892,691 euros, most of which were blocked in a timely manner by SIBS.
In practice, 128 transactions were successful, which allowed the suspects to profit more than 500 thousand euros.
The PJ reveals that it seized three motor vehicles, 17 thousand euros in cash, ammunition, ballistic vests and narcotic products in this operation. Bank card readers (skimmers), white cards, various cards, several TPA’s, a money laundering infrastructure, several foreign bank accounts and crypto asset coupons were also seized.
The suspects will be present for the first judicial interrogation at the Loures Criminal Investigation Court to apply appropriate coercive measures
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