The Civil Guard has arrested a person in Alicante for an alleged crime of fraud related to a tourist villa located in Lanzarote, in the town of Nazaret. The Territorial Team of the Judicial Police of Costa Teguise has carried out these investigations, framed in Operation Maxim. The scam, explained the Benemérita, consisted of publishing, on a website for renting homes for tourist use, an advertisement about the rental of a villa on the island of Lanzarote for vacation use, but "without the knowledge of its legitimate owner". The author of the events, who had already been arrested for a similar episode that occurred in Catalonia, previously requested "an economic amount from potential victims".
"On January 30, the Civil Guard became aware, through the complaint of an Italian tourist, of a possible crime of fraud through the Internet with an impact on the island of Lanzarote," the police force relates. The complainant reported that, through the aforementioned page, he had arranged the rental of a house on the island. To do this, he had advanced the amount of 1,955 euros by bank transfer. However, before traveling to the island, he "suspected that he had been the victim of a scam", they explain.
Despite this, he decided to travel to Lanzarote, "booking a hotel, to inform the Civil Guard of the described events." Once here, this man contacted the owner of the house in question, who "was unaware of the circumstances of the event and that her property was for rent on the Internet." Thus, he went to the police station to report what happened.
Arrest in Alicante
As a result of the investigations, the Civil Guard finally managed to "locate the fraudulent operation", which had been carried out from Alicante. The agents also located a series of bank accounts based in the town of Orihuela (Alicante) where the tourist had deposited the money.
After these results in the investigation, on April 13, agents of the Civil Guard of the Judicial Police Team of Almoradí, of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of Alicante, proceeded to arrest R.P.G., 52 years old and a native of Alicante. He was arrested for an alleged crime of fraud and was placed at the disposal of the corresponding Duty Court of that city. According to the Benemérita, "the alleged perpetrator of the scam has another event that occurred in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia".
