Cyber Crime in Spain: Bots for Booking Scam

69 Gang members have been arrested by the Spanish National Police (SNP), with another 25 still under investigation, for using bots to book appointments with immigration officials and reselling the appointments at an absurd price ranging from $50 to $330.

The individuals arrested included four confirmed gang members and the rest involved in the scheme were advisors, recruiters, intermediaries, managers, and even lawyers.

The Spanish National Police (SNP) stated, "Those arrested rented the bot for uninterrupted use of the online appointment computer system, entering or transmitting data, in a way that seriously affected the normal and correct functioning of the appointment management website for immigration procedures throughout the national territory.” Bots used could bypass “…I-am-not-a-robot CAPTCHA, avoid server-side detections the bots could also automate bookings with immigration officials.”

The illegal operation was discovered when Spain’s Provincial Foreigners Brigade detected problems with the booking system for appointments. Further investigations discovered a bot that was operational 24/7, booking appointments by preloading data into online sites. 

During a raid conducted by the SNP, a single computer was seized with multiple windows open on the appointment booking page of the electronic headquarters of the foreigners' office with another window dedicated to a spreadsheet that could automatically collect data or remotely from the target site.

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