The Civil Guard has arrested a woman who allegedly defrauded one million euros from 17 people, mostly Irish and English, through the sale of properties in Lanzarote, using the real estate agency she ran. The Judicial Police of the Civil Guard initiated this operation, called "Inmobiliaria", in September 2012, at the request of the head of the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife.
The investigation began as a result of several complaints filed by various people, who claimed to be victims of fraud. This operation resulted in the arrest of T.J.P.R, a native of Tías and 45 years old, administrator of two real estate companies. The arrest took place on February 4, although the Civil Guard has reported it this Tuesday through a statement.
The modus operandi of this alleged fraud consisted of "receiving large amounts of money in order to purchase real estate on the island of Lanzarote." The Civil Guard has assured that this woman made these people believe that "the purchase had been made, which was false."
In this way, she "improperly appropriated the money paid to pay taxes for property transfers, which she also did not do." On other occasions, according to the Civil Guard, she even "charged a monthly fee as a community expense for properties that had never been sold, prolonging this over time."
The Civil Guard managed to locate the alleged "scam and deception of a total of 17 people." Nine of them are from Ireland, four from the United Kingdom, two from Spain, one from Italy and another from Germany. The amount defrauded amounts to approximately one million euros.
According to the agents, "this illicit activity was carried out between the years 2007 to 2011, taking advantage of the fact that in some cases, the victims made these purchases as an investment, to be used for tourist exploitation and not as a habitual residence." The detainee was brought to judicial disposition in the Courts of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife.
