A COUPLE in their early 40s have been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Rojales after an elderly British man was defrauded out of €86,000.
The fraud was uncovered after the victim died and a relative in the UK discovered that his bank accounts had been cleared out.
The Guardia detained the man and woman on separate dates in late March, but details were only revealed on Monday.
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The couple- of undisclosed nationality- had lived in Rojales for some years and ran a consultancy that helped foreign residents in Spain.
They developed a relationship of trust with the British expat who resided a few kilometres away in Almoradi and had health issues.
The Guardia said they took advantage of the victim’s vulnerable situation and lack of family in Spain to help him on a daily basis, ‘which allowed them to gradually access his bank accounts’.
The fraud dated back to between 2019 and 2022, during which the alleged perpetrators ‘carried out multiple operations, such as transfers to their own accounts, payments in stores and cash withdrawals at ATMs’.
The Guardia added that ‘some of these withdrawals occurred even when the victim was hospitalised or had already died’.
Analysis of bank records and card usage allowed a a full trail of withdrawals to be uncovered to confirm the fraud.
The man has a record for similar crimes and the couple were bailed by a Torrevieja court.
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