The Civil Guard of Lanzarote has investigated five individuals and identified another six for their alleged involvement in a fraud offense. The incidents were reported by a company in the island's tourism sector.
The Civil Guard of Lanzarote became aware of this situation during the first quarter of 2026, when a company dedicated to the tourism sector reported having been the victim of a fraud related to the rental of holiday villas. From that moment on, the armed institute considered the possible commission of offenses of fraud, document forgery, usurpation of civil status, and membership in a criminal group.
A businessman who acted as an intermediary to secure clients for holiday villas
These events occurred during the past year 2025, when a supposed businessman dedicated to tourist intermediation contacted the Lanzarote company, offering to mediate in securing clients to whom they could rent tourist villas on the island of Lanzarote during their holiday periods in exchange for a commission.
After reaching a commercial agreement, the fake intermediary provided a list of supposed clients, along with identity documents and bank card details to make reservation payments immediately.
Once the local company processed the payments and confirmed the apparent deposit, the suspect claimed his commission for the services rendered, which amounted to an amount close to 20,000 euros.
As a result, the Lanzarote company paid the agreed amount to different bank accounts provided by the supposed intermediary businessman. After making the commission payment, the reservation payments were systematically canceled by the issuing financial institutions, as the bank cards used for them had been previously stolen in other European Union countries.
Given all this, the Arroba Team of Lanzarote, as part of the tasks entrusted to them in the exercise of their specific functions in cybercrime matters, gathered all the data on the events that occurred and carried out the appropriate police investigations, identifying a total of ten people who provided personal documentation or bank accounts in their name to provide logistical support for the consummation of the fraud.
As a result of the analysis of the information provided, collection of evidence, taking of statements and relevant actions, the presumed leader of the criminal organization was identified, who used to dispose of the money by using the bank accounts of third parties through withdrawals at various ATMs spread throughout the Community of Madrid to hinder his identification.
The Operation remains open, so new arrests are not ruled out.
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