During the first days of August, the Territorial Team of the Judicial Police (ETPJ) of the Civil Guard of Costa Teguise arrested four people in the province of Madrid with initials A.L.A. (47 years old and Spanish nationality), J.C.F. (22 years old and identical nationality), H.F.C.R. (34 years old and foreign nationality) and M.B.S.P. (woman of 43 years of age and also foreign nationality), as alleged perpetrators of a continuous crime of fraud, membership of a criminal organization and falsification of documents.
This operation started with the presentation of several complaints filed in Lanzarote in relation to alleged telematic scams of vacation rental homes. As a result of these complaints, an investigation was opened to determine the method used to carry out these scams and the amount of the same that could have occurred, collecting similar events that occurred between November 2016 and June 2017.
The investigations focused on locating and identifying the perpetrators of these events, as well as possible related victims residing both in Spain and in third countries.
"Criminal strategy"
According to the Benemérita, "the advertisements were disseminated through different websites for vacation rental homes and also in others for buying and selling, sending the alleged landlords, after contacting the potential victims, a model of rental contract; at the same time they requested a bank transfer as a reservation and a photocopy of the identity documents of the interested parties. After sending the documentation by email and transferring the requested money, any type of contact with the advertisers was lost."
To give greater credibility to the possible conversations of interest that were made by telephone, a woman with a Spanish accent spoke, with the supposed purpose of reinforcing an image of seriousness; however, the contact telephone number varied from one advertisement to another.
On occasions, the fraudulent advertisements were copies of previous legitimate advertisements, or non-existent homes were offered, with cases even occurring in which the victims did not realize the deception until the moment they moved to the place of their vacation destination, in this case in Lanzarote.
For the publication of false advertisements and the preparation of false lease contracts, the alleged perpetrators even used the identities of third parties that they had previously collected by different means, including those of previous victims.
Estimated number of victims
The Judicial Police of Costa Teguise located a large number of victims, clarifying for the moment a total of 15 crimes of fraud that initially seemed to be isolated events but that have finally been related, forming part of the activity of a criminal organization.
The investigation is open and new arrests are not ruled out, being judicially processed in different judicial districts.
Tips to avoid scams
From the Civil Guard, they remember some tips to avoid this type of scam.
"Always buy through verified sites with proven reputation. Beware of sellers who offer super deals. Search the web for references about sellers and advertisements before making the purchase. Be cautious when buying from users who claim to reside abroad and try to pay cash on delivery or in advance. Money transfer systems provide the seller with a high degree of anonymity.
Any moderately serious company does not send emails with Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo domains. They have their own domain.
Do not believe in inheritances, lotteries or millionaire investments that, by chance, have corresponded to you, nor in pyramid schemes"
