The Guardia Civil has arrested three people for scams related to the offer of vacation rentals in Torrevieja. The detainees, who are charged with the crimes of continued fraud and belonging to a criminal group, have been placed at the disposal of the Court, which has decreed the release of all of them with precautionary measures.
During the months of February and March of this year, the Guardia Civil detected an increase in the number of complaints related to scams linked to properties offered to tourists in Torrevieja. In response to this increase, operation Mesekito began with the purpose of clarifying the reasons behind this increase and identifying the scammers.
In the first phase of the investigation, the modus operandi of the alleged perpetrators was studied, which was similar in the majority of the complaints analysed. These individuals used website platforms dedicated to the rental of properties to request payments by bank transfer or in cash, offering properties that they did not own. After receiving the payment, the scammers disappeared without a trace, without handing over the property and without refunding the sums paid. Furthermore, to gain the trust of the victims, they did not hesitate to impersonate real estate agencies.
Subsequently, the agents carried out a thorough analysis of the bank accounts involved in these crimes, which allowed the members of the gang to be identified. They were three Spanish citizens, two men and a woman, between the ages of 42 and 63, some of them with a history of similar acts.
Once the participation of the suspects in some of the crimes investigated was proven, on May 23, three simultaneous searches were carried out at the homes of those involved in Torrevieja. During this operation, bank documentation, material related to the impersonated real estate companies, transfer documents made, mobile phones, more than 10,000 euro in cash, 8 motor vehicles, 8 properties, 1 pension plan and 16 bank accounts used by the gang were seized. The suspects were arrested on site.
The investigation continued and in the month of July they received a European court order from the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Freiburg (Germany) for a scam related to the dismantled gang where they had defrauded a German couple of 4,000 euro.
In total, 29 fraud crimes have been clarified in which the victims came from Germany, Algeria, Colombia, Ecuador, Poland, Ukraine and Spain. The investigation remains open and more victims are not ruled out.
The Guardia Civil urges caution and awareness when using online platforms to avoid being a victim of real estate scams. It is recommended to request proof of the existence of the property, be wary of overly attractive offers and collect information about the advertiser and the platform before making payments, and only using the official channels to do so.
