Lucía, Esperanza’s mother, did not notice anything particularly strange when her daughter told her about a group of people she had met in a park in Madrid. They talked about economic topics, such as cryptocurrencies and investments. A few weeks later, Esperanza, a 16-year-old girl enrolled in the first year of high school and who had never caused any trouble or serious problems at home, asked her parents 450 euros to take an ‘online’ course in a ‘trading’ academy. So far, everything supposedly normal. “We liked that she was interested in something related to studies, so we paid her & rdquor ;, says the mother. In a matter of months, Esperanza became a different person. She only talked about money and how to earn it the easy way. She was more and more involved in the virtual academy and in the group of people that she had met in that park. Today, her mother is desperate. “He has dropped out of school and left home. I don’t even know where she lives she & rdquor;he explains to EL PERIÓDICO.
“My daughter has dropped out of school and left home. I don’t even know where she lives. We don’t really understand what she’s been through, how she’s transformed into another person.”
Lucia, mother of Esperanza, 16 years old
Esperanza is captured by a sect. And she is not the only one. Like her, there are many young people throughout Spain. For example, Marta, 18 years old, who in recent months has been moving away from her family and friends when she entered the sphere of IM Academy, an online platform of presumed training in trading with several brains at an international level, Spain included (without physical headquarters). “He got into that world so much that he stopped calling us, he said he didn’t have time. He was just with those people. Then he started asking us how much money we had and how we spent it. He talked about strange things and in a very strange way. From the age of 16 he was dating a boy and he also ended up leaving him. He was a fast change and very striking. Right now I don’t really know where she lives. I have assumed that she is in a sect & rdquor ;, explains her mother, completely devastated and exhausted. For security reasons, neither she nor Esperanza’s mother want to appear with her real name and her photo in this report.
In 2022, sects are not religious groups where adherents dress in robes and follow an enlightened shaman. Coercive psychological manipulation groups (this is how sects are technically defined) have diversified into the world of self-help, philosophy, personal growth, empowerment and finances. Anyone -regardless of their intellectual or economic level- can fall into their networks.
The crypto-sect that has seduced Esperanza and Marta is not only a pyramid financial scam (the courses cost money and each member has to recruit others to continue in the organization and have discounts on that training) but there is a special abuse of young people. “They indoctrinate them, recruit them and get them to leave their families and their studies. The modus operandi is identical to that of the networks that recruit for jihadism. In these groups there is coercive persuasion, which in Spain, unfortunately, is not typified in the Penal Code & rdquor ;, he explains Juantxo Domínguez, president of the Spanish observatory on sectarian aberrations, RedUNE. “They are old-fashioned sectarian groups, but adapted to the 21st century. His first commandment is not to accept even half criticism. Information control is tight & rdquor ;, he continues.
The observatory on sectarian aberrations, RedUNE, intends to take a giant step forward by taking the case to the National High Court
In addition to the request change.org -where more than 50,000 signatures have been collected calling for the cessation of IM Academy’s activity- and the recent police operation where eight people were arrested, RedUNE intends to take a giant step forward by taking the case to court. National audience.
“It’s a textbook manipulation and they achieve an incredible level of fanaticism. There are people who have tattooed the name of IM Academy”
Carlos Tamayo, investigative youtuber
To attract young people, even minors, IM Academy offers an empowering speech. “They tell you that you don’t want to be like your parents, a generation of losers for working so many hours a day. They talk to you about financial freedom and offer you a fast track to get rich being your own boss & rdquor ;, he explains Carlos Tamayo, youtuber who published the first investigative reports on the cryptsect, vital for the police operation. “The persuasion techniques they use are the same as the El Palmar de Troya sect. It’s a textbook manipulation and they achieve an incredible level of fanaticism. There are people who have tattooed the name of IM Academy on their skin, “says Tamayo.
Regarding the pyramidal economic scam, the youtuber reveals that the money that the followers allegedly earn is ‘evaporated’ in other expenses: the training itself, the displacements and the entrance for the massive and international events (such as the one that was recently held in Badalona ) or the equipment rental to appear in social networks a millionaire life, for example, high-end cars with which they take photos.
The mother of Esperanza, the 16-year-old girl who has dropped out of school and left home, assures that she is living through hell. “We know that she has come home, but when we were not. We do not understand very well what she has been through, how she has become another person. She has been brainwashed by her. The few times that we have managed to get her to answer her phone, we cannot tell her that she is in a sect with an army of children and young people working for the leadership. You can’t reason with her because the indoctrination is absolute. We just have to have words of love and affection and tell him that we will always be there. My hope is that, at a certain point, he will have doubts and start questioning the group & rdquor ;, she comments.
Malviving and with scabies
Hope’s mother he suspects that his daughter lives in an apartment with other members of the cryptosect. The same is believed by Marta’s mother, who was in the massive meeting of Badalona (where 9,000 young people from all over the world met) and is now planning another trip to Dubai with the same objective. “They live in deplorable conditions, both in terms of food and hygiene. My daughter has sent me photos and she has scabies. I have offered him money to see a dermatologist. It’s the only thing I’m going to give him money for & rdquor ;, says Marta’s mother.
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Both RedUNE and the parents of young people demand from hotels and convention centers that, knowing what is behind IM Academy, stop hosting these types of mass gatherings.
Police sources explain that in these face-to-face events organized in hotels, victims are captured, just as in the parks. In the approach, young people are invited to enroll in the training platform to join a movement that will allow them to “forget ordinary working life and achieve Financial Freedom”. These same sources explain that new members must make a first deposit of 200 euros and then a monthly fee of 150. Regarding the alleged economic formation of the platform, it is reduced to simple virtual chats recorded on video in which those responsible for the chiringuito speak, among other things, of financial operations prohibited in Spain.