A cross-border police operation led by the Rip-Deal Unit Vienna has smashed a rip-deal organized crime group, after officers seized fake euro banknotes worth around 2.1 million euros in Marbella. On 6 October 2026, three police-known suspects were arrested in a coordinated lock operation in Vienna and Marbella. The suspects, aged 27, 30 and 53, were accused in the case of trying to use an alleged luxury property sale to set up both a rip-deal and a large-scale cash fraud. The scheme began in early August 2026, when an Austrian real-estate entrepreneur advertised a luxury villa in Marbella for sale online. Alleged investors then contacted him, presenting themselves as members of a Swiss property consortium. After the victim and the investors agreed on a series of meetings in Marbella, including a personal viewing with the entrepreneur's lawyer and repeated discussions to build trust, the group arranged a handover. On 6 October 2026, the plan was for a cash payment of 1.8 million euros to be delivered at a hotel in Marbella for the purchase. At the same time, the entrepreneur’s son in Vienna was supposed to hand over a brokerage fee of 300,000 euros in the form of gold coins to one of the alleged investors. Investigators said the “payment” process was meant to secure gold coins as commission while using the meeting to circulate large quantities of counterfeit euros. The entrepreneur grew suspicious in time, researched the internet and found media reports about the Rip-Deal Unit Vienna. He contacted police and insisted on working with investigators to lure the suspects into making the handover. Austria’s unit worked with Spain’s Policía Nacional, the UDEF financial and economic crime unit, Europol, Austria’s Federal Criminal Police Office, and the liaison officers of the Austrian interior ministry based in Madrid. Officers carried out coordinated undercover deployment and a targeted operation in Vienna and Marbella on 6 October. One arrest in Vienna was made with key support from the unit for combating street crime. The investigation also identified the suspects as members of a rip-deal specialist Roma clan. The three accused have a combined total of 30 prior convictions for offences including robbery and theft within a criminal association, serious fraud, counterfeiting crimes and rip-deal offences across at least five European Union member states. The suspects were arrested on 6 October 2026. The operation and investigation were carried out by Austrian and Spanish police with Europol support.