Staff Reporter
SPAIN’S Policia Nacional have busted a gang based in Malaga province that was scamming retired Brits on a massive scale, and is thought to have made off with €1.8 million.
A total of 155 expats fell foul of the international network, which was using a web of leisure companies and timeshare offers to lure its victims in.
A total of seven people have been arrested so far, while an eighth is being investigated but has not yet been detained, according to a report in Area Costa del Sol.
The Policia Nacional said that more than €2.5 million had been frozen in bank accounts allegedly being used by the gang.
Searches were also carried out in Malaga, Fuengirola, Marbella, Estepona and Mijas Costa.
The police investigation began after multiple victims filed reports with the police. They said that they had fallen prey to the fraud at fairs and congresses, where they were offered membership to holiday clubs in exchange for granting rights to timeshare properties.
The victims were also offered their initial membership fees back once they had reached their 36th or 54th month within the clubs.
They soon found, however, that the offers were completely false.
In a cruel twist, the gang then migrated their existing companies from leisure activities to a legal claims service, to ostensibly help the victims get their money back.
Police probes uncovered a complicated web of companies, which had been planned from the United Kingdom and Spain, as well as in tax havens.
The case is now in the hands of Spain’s central High Court, which ordered the €2.5 million in various bank accounts to be frozen.
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