Pierluigi Paganini
October 11, 2025
Spanish Guardia Civil dismantled the “GXC Team” cybercrime group, arresting its 25-year-old Brazilian leader “GoogleXcoder.” The gang sold AI-powered phishing kits, Android malware, and voice-scam tools via Telegram and Russian forums, becoming a major supplier of credential theft tools in Spain.
In January 2024, Resecurity uncovered a cybercriminal faction known as “GXC Team“, which specializes in crafting tools for online banking theft, ecommerce deception, and internet scams. Around November 11th, 2023, the group’s leader “googleXcoder“ made multiple announcements on the Dark Web. On New Year’s Eve, the group declared significant price reductions, offering up to a 20% discount on their products available on the Dark Web.
These posts introduced a new tool that incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) for creating fraudulent invoices used for wire fraud and Business E-Mail Compromise (BEC). According to an FBI Report, successful business email compromise (BEC) scams (such as invoice fraud) resulted in an average loss of over $120,000 per incident, inflicting a staggering financial toll of more than $2.4 billion on organizations.
Just before the start of 2024, on December 30, they unveiled an updated version of their AI-powered tool, named “Business Invoice Swapper“.
This update was broadcasted through their official Telegram channel of the “GXC Team”. The tool was being offered on a rental basis, with subscription plans starting from $2,000 per week, or a one-time fee of $15,000 for unlimited access.
For the tool to function, the operator must input a list of compromised email accounts to be scanned. This involves specifying the credentials, as well as the IBAN and BIC codes that will be used for the ‘swapping’ or spoofing process in the documents. It’s noteworthy that most of the victim accounts identified were predominantly from the U.K. and various EU countries, including but not limited to Spain, France, Poland, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, among others.
According to the Hunter Unit from Resecurity, previously, the “GXC Team” gained notoriety for creating a wide array of online fraud tools, ranging from compromised payment data checkers to sophisticated phishing and smishing kits. They have been considered the masterminds in this illicit field, supplying fellow cybercriminals with a suite of ready-to-use tools designed to defraud innocent consumers globally. Additionally, they offer ongoing updates and technical support for conducting fraud. Presently, the tools crafted by the “GXC Team” are capable of targeting over 300 entities, including top financial institutions, government services, postal services, cryptocurrency platforms, payment networks, and major international online marketplaces including AMEX, Amazon, Binance, Coinbase, Office 365 (Microsoft), PayPal, ING, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, DKB AG (Das kann Bank), BBBank eG (formerly Badische Beamtenbank) and multiple Spain-based banks specifically including ABANCA, Banca March, Banco de Sabadell, Grupo Caja Rural, Unicaja Banco SA, Caixa Enginyers, Banco Mediolanum, Laboral Kutxa, Eurocaja Dynamic, BBVA, and Santander.
Besides Artificial Intelligence to scale operations, in a novel approach to circumvent two-factor authentication (2FA), the perpetrators crafted malicious Android code that mimics official mobile banking applications. Victims are tricked into installing this fake app under the guise of confirming their OTP (One-Time Password), which is then intercepted and transmitted to a command-and-control (C2C) server managed by the attacker. The necessary login credentials for online banking systems are previously harvested through a phishing kit. Once the OTP is intercepted, the malicious actor can access the victim’s banking account, utilizing geographically relevant residential proxies to facilitate the unauthorized access.
The “GXC Team” has also created several kits designed to pilfer identity information from Australian and Spanish citizens through the use of fake government websites. In the case of Australia, the actors impersonated the “my.gov.au” portal, luring victims into providing their personal information, which was then maliciously collected. This tactic underscores their commitment to identity theft and the exploitation of unsuspecting individuals through deceptive online means. In the case of Spain, the “GXC Team” created a counterfeit landing page that impersonated the GOB.ES website. This fake page claimed to support payments through multiple banks, all with the aim of gaining the victim’s trust by presenting content that appeared to originate from an official government site. This approach was used to deceive individuals into sharing sensitive information with malicious actors.
The Cybercrime Department of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard tracked and arrested “GoogleXcoder,” a CaaS developer behind phishing kits that cloned banks and government sites for fraud.
The suspect, previously unknown to law enforcement, evaded detection by frequently relocating and using spoofed identities, living as a “digital nomad” with his family.
“The individual hiding behind this pseudonym was completely unknown to law enforcement agencies, not only nationally but also internationally. However, locating this individual required complex operational investigation, as he frequently moved between different addresses in different provinces of Spain, using phone lines and payment cards in the names of spoofed identities to avoid detection.” reads the press release published by Spain’s Civil Guard. “His criminal activity allowed him to maintain a life as a “digital nomad” with his family.”
The police arrested “GoogleXCoder” in San Vicente de la Barquera and seized devices with phishing kits, personal accounts, and chats. Forensic and crypto analysis over a year identified six individuals linked to the network.
The investigation ended with six raids across Spain, seizing electronic devices and recovering funds stolen from victims stored on various digital platforms.
“The investigation is currently ongoing, and further action is not ruled out. Telegram channels have already been deactivated, and seized digital evidence is being analyzed, which could lead to further identifications or arrests.” concludes the press release.
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