Police seize 2.1 million euros in counterfeit notes in Rip-Deal sting
Sunday 18th October 2026 on 16:01 in
Austria
Police in Austria and Spain have arrested three suspects and seized counterfeit banknotes worth about 2.1 million euros in a cross-border operation targeting a Rip-Deal fraud group, ORF reported. Police called it the largest sting of its kind in Austrian criminal history.
The case began after an Austrian property developer advertised a luxury villa in Marbella for sale online. Suspecting fraud, he contacted police. The suspects had posed as members of a Swiss property consortium and sought to gain his trust through a villa viewing and meetings in Marbella.
At a planned meeting in a Marbella hotel in early October, the group intended to arrange a cash down payment of 1.8 million euros. At the same time, the developer’s son was expected to hand over gold coins worth 300,000 euros in Vienna as a broker’s commission, police said. The suspects planned to obtain the coins while putting counterfeit notes into circulation.
The developer found reports about the Rip-Deal Unit Vienna, a fraud team within the Vienna State Criminal Police Office, and alerted officers. He then agreed to help police expose the suspects. The unit worked with Europol, Austria’s Federal Criminal Police Office, Spain’s Policía Nacional in Marbella and the Austrian Interior Ministry’s liaison office in Madrid.
The operation, named Castillo, ran from August to October in Vienna and Marbella. On October 6, coordinated covert measures and a planned sting led to the arrests of three suspects. One man was arrested in Vienna with significant involvement from the Task Force for Combating Street Crime.
Police said the suspects, aged 27, 30 and 53, belonged to a Roma group of Dutch and French origin that specialised in Rip-Deal fraud. Together, they had 30 relevant prior convictions in at least five European Union member states, including for robbery and theft as part of a criminal organisation, serious fraud and counterfeit money offences.
Police advised people selling goods, particularly luxury items, not to travel abroad for a sale. They also urged sellers to be wary of prospective buyers who show no interest in negotiating the price, to check business partners and ask for references, and to report any Rip-Deal both abroad and at home.