SPAIN’S ‘Most Wanted’ criminal couple have been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Torrevieja.
The husband and wife team- aged 36 and 44- have been jailed by a local court.
They had accumulated 62 outstanding arrest and court imprisonment warrants across Spain.
READ MORE:
- Bogus holiday rental scam captures victims in Spain and the UK
- Fraudster strikes again to offer bogus home rentals in Alicante Province area of Spain
- Property rental scam is exposed in Spain’s Benidorm: Police make multiple arrests
The duo- of undisclosed nationality- offered non-existent rental homes to people so that they could access their bank accounts.
The Guardia Civil has not revealed the total amount of money they pocketed.
The couple had been running the scam for at least a decade, according to authorities.
They have been accused of 49 counts of fraud as well as four charges of identity theft.
The Guardia Civil noticed a spike in rental scam reports in April and the couple always made significant cash withdrawals from ATMs in Torrevieja, where they had lived since 2022.
The scammers replied to ads placed by people looking for a flat and offered fake properties at below-market prices.
After gaining the trust of their victims, they asked for their personal documents and sent them bogus contracts.
They even sent photographs of alleged property owners who actually belonged to other people whose identities had been usurped.
The couple used the stolen identities to contact new victims and to register pre-paid phones.
The Guardia discovered they activated up to six lines in the name of the same person within a few days to use in fresh scams.
Victims were told to make deposit and first instalment payments using cardless cash withdrawal codes generated by online banking accounts.
Using those codes, the couple immediately got the money from ATMs.
Many of those conned got police and court summonses for crimes committed by the couple under their stolen identities.
The Guardia Civil said they lived in Torrevieja as hermits to avoid being spotted.
Their home window blinds were always kept down and they barely went outside except for ATM visits.
A search of their property uncovered 25 phone cards, five mobile phones, two electronic tablets, as well as drugs.
53 victims have been identified so far in A Coruña, Alicante, Almeria, Asturias, Avila, Badajoz, Caceres, Cadiz, Cantabria, Castellon, Ciudad Real, Cordoba, Cuenca, Granada, Guadalajara, Guipuzcoa, Huelva, Jaen, La Rioja, Las Palmas, Leon, Lleida, Lugo, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Navarra, Sevilla, Tenerife, Toledo and Valencia.
The Guardia Civil says it is important to always check on the identity of a potential landlord.
New tenants should also be wary of suspiciously low prices and not to make any payments without first checking the authenticity of a contract and the actual property.
Click here to read more Costa Blanca News from The Olive Press.
