A presumed scam that was already known in the peninsula has arrived in Lanzarote. "They called me saying they were from the Democratic Association of Civil Guards and asked me for 1,600 euros to put advertising for my business in a magazine," says a businessman from the island, who wanted to make it public to alert other possible victims.
In his case, he replied that he had to inform himself "to know who he was giving the money to", so the scam did not materialize. Later, he discovered that this practice had already been reported in other parts of Spain, such as Andalusia, with calls in the name of a false association of civil guards, asking for money in exchange for advertisements in a supposed publication.
"Neither the Civil Guard, nor the official magazine of the corps, will call anyone asking for money", the Civil Guard has told La Voz, warning that "you have to be careful with this type of scams".
From the corps they affirm that neither in Lanzarote nor in the Canary Islands have they received formal complaints so far, although they have received "rumors" that there could have been some case in the municipality of San Bartolomé.
In the case of the businessman who has contacted La Voz, as the scam has not been consummated, he has not filed a complaint, but he did want the case to be known to prevent these people from achieving their objectives with other victims.
"They also told me that for a half-page advertisement it was 600 euros, and 300 or 400 euros for business cards," he details, pointing out that there could be at least one other person in San Bartolomé to whom the same thing would have happened.
For its part, the Civil Guard has not opened an investigation for now as it has no registered complaints, but it does agree on the need to alert citizens, to prevent this scam from spreading.
