Another defendant was sentenced to five years in prison, with a suspended sentence.

The court charged the two, both resident in Braga, with the crimes of criminal association, money laundering and qualified computer fraud.

Another 11 defendants were convicted of money laundering, with suspended prison sentences in their execution.

According to the court, the two main defendants and an unidentified third person, grouped together with other people allegedly residing in Brazil, with a view to fraudulently obtaining bank details from users of Banif and Montepio's home banking platforms and withdrawing the money they could from the accounts they accessed with such data.

To that end, in 2013 and 2014, the alleged Brazilians sent e-mails to a large number of customers of banking institutions, as if they were e-mails from the banks themselves.

These e-mails contained links that, once activated, installed malicious software on the customer's computer, which began to register and transmit the data necessary to access the bank account.

At this stage, through the same software, and simulating the graphic presentation of the banking portal, the user was also presented with a window asking for the update of data, a request that, if satisfied by the deceived user, led to the provision of other data necessary for the transaction of funds.

Obtained in this fraudulent way, the data allowed them to move the accounts as if they were their holders, the alleged Brazilians contacted the two main defendants, who were responsible for “providing individuals who were willing, in exchange for monetary compensation, to hold accounts - in those two banking institutions, to where the monetary amounts were then withdrawn".

Tn some cases, the defendants recruited merchants, with an ATM terminal, who were willing, for an economic consideration, to make such a terminal available to make payments with debit cards from the so-called “mule accounts”, returning the amount paid in cash.

Fifteen defendants were accused of this performance, some as holders of “mule accounts”, others for having made their contribution as traders.