National Police agents have arrested two young men, aged 21 and 28, in the Gran Canarian municipality of Telde, both with numerous police records, as alleged perpetrators of fraud and threats. The arrested individuals uploaded numerous fake advertisements to a well-known website offering rental properties in tourist areas in the south of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, managing to fraudulently collect a total of 7,750 euros and threatening one of the victims if they reported the incident.
The events unfolded following complaints received by the Civil Guard from several people who stated they had been victims of fraud, as they had paid for a rental property that they were never able to occupy.
Police investigators located numerous complaints received in different police stations in relation to a series of scams carried out with vacation rentals in the tourist areas of southern Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, in which common links were observed in all of them.
Threats to one of the victims
Relying on the supposed anonymity of the Internet, the alleged perpetrators created rental advertisements through a well-known website and managed to deceive numerous victims, making them believe they were participating in an apparently real rental business.
To do this, they created up to three accounts in different banking entities, in which they received transfers from the victims once the monthly payment and deposit to be paid for the alleged properties were agreed between both parties. The amount defrauded from the victims with this method reached 7,750 euros.
One of the victims told the agents how, after recognizing that it was a scam, the individual she contacted by telephone even threatened her if she reported the events to the Police.
Arrests
The police investigations allowed the identification of two men as the sole responsible parties for the publication of the false rentals and holders, in addition to the contact telephone numbers and bank accounts receiving the fraudulent transfers.
Therefore, and after locating the two individuals in the Telde neighborhood of Ojos de Garza, the agents proceeded to arrest them for crimes of fraud and threats. Once the corresponding police report was prepared, it was sent to the competent Judicial Authority.
The police intervention was carried out by agents of the Local Judicial Police Brigade of the Telde Police Station.
