Police bust property fraudsters

ALICANTE National Police offers have uncovered a property scam, involving a so-called estate agent. So far, two people were affected by the fraud, losing €28,400. The three people responsible were arrested.

Police officers were on the trail of a married couple who had been arrested last year for defrauding €70,000 and were charged for fraud and belonging to a criminal gang.

The couple had been keeping the deposits and down payments that prospective property buyers had paid them for the homes they were offering for sale. At that time, the couple were falsifying signatures on the contracts as well as modifying the properties’ cadastre registration and the identity of the authentic owners.

Investigators suspected that the couple were up to their old tricks, but this time, they were using a third person passing himself off as an estate agent, offering property for sale on the internet, properties that he did not have any right to sell.

Two people fell victim to this new scam and reported it to the police. Stating that they had been asked to deposit a large sum to reserve the property they wanted to buy. Once the amount was paid, they tried to contact the agent to get a date to sign the deeds, but found he would not answer their calls.

Investigators discovered that sometimes the properties in question were not even for sale, or on one occasion, the real seller was not told about the buyers and never received the deposit.

The victims paid by bank transfer to different accounts in different banks, but investigators were able to quickly identify the account holders, and once they had a full understanding of their modus operandi, they arrested all three fraudsters, who had swindled around €28,000 in just a few months.

The three people arrested, aged between 28 and 70, were released after declaring at Alicante National Police Station. The investigation and arrests were carried out by officers from the Alicante National Police's Economic Crime Group.