Spanish national police have apprehended an internationally wanted Ukrainian national for his involvement in a scareware operation that ran from 2006 to 2011.

This massive operation led to the infection of hundreds of thousands of computers with malware designed to display pop-up messages intended to mislead users into believing that their computers were infected with malware.

Unsuspecting victims who wanted to get rid of suspected malware infections were coerced into paying $129 for a bogus security program offered by the criminal gang and marketed as an antivirus solution capable of cleaning their devices.

The impact of this malicious scheme has been disastrous, affecting hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide and resulting in consumer losses exceeding $70 million.

On Tuesday June 11, Spanish authorities arrested the suspect at Barcelona-El Prat airport upon his arrival after law enforcement discovered his planned flight to Barcelona.

“The operation was carried out by investigators from the General Information Police Station in coordination with the Provincial Information Brigades of Tenerife and Barcelona and with the Police Station of El Prat Airport,” said A Spanish National Police press release published on Saturday reads.

“At the international level, he had the support of the FBI and INTERPOL.”

The arrest was made possible by an Interpol Red Notice issued by the United States, highlighting international collaboration to bring the criminals to justice.

Unlike international arrest warrants, a Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement agencies around the world, urging them to locate and apprehend a wanted person pending extradition, surrender or other related legal proceedings.

Spanish authorities also revealed on Saturday that the suspect had managed to evade capture by US authorities for more than a decade.

Following his arrest, he was brought before Central Investigative Court Number Six of the Spanish National Court, where he was formally taken into custody as the seriousness of the charges against him required immediate incarceration.

In May, the Spanish police busted a large-scale phishing operation linked to a criminal organization after arresting 40 people suspected of involvement in computer scams, identity theft, banking scams, money laundering and more.

Their large-scale email and SMS phishing campaign reportedly affected more than 300,000 people, resulting in confirmed losses of at least €700,000 (about $770,000).

A month earlier, Ukrainian cyberpolice apprehended a 36-year-old Ukrainian sell the private data of more than 300 million Ukrainian and European Union citizens to the Russians.