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ARCHIVED - Three arrested in Murcia holiday rental scam
At least 15 victims were scammed out of deposits in the Murcia Region for apartments that didn’t exist
The Guardia Civil in the Region of Murcia have dismantled a criminal organisation which scammed at least 15 people out of thousands for non-existent holiday homes. So far, three members of the gang have been arrested and will be charged with crimes of fraud.
The scam came to light in April and operation ‘Welcomehome 2.0’ was launched by the authorities.
The age-old crime began with the criminals offering several holiday homes along the Mar Menor coast for rent on social media. The victims were persuaded to part with a substantial deposit to secure the apartment but never actually saw the properties.
When their vacations approached, the supposed landlords made up a series of excuses for not showing the rentals to the holidaymakers, and the victims quickly established that they had been scammed. The fraudsters refused to return any of the deposits, insisting that the victims voluntarily handed over the cash.
The police operation discovered that the photos posted on social media didn’t correspond to real rentals and in some cases, the apartments didn’t exist at all.
By examining social media the perpetrators were eventually tracked down and arrested and the scammed money was returned to the victims, around 15,000 euros in all.
The Guardia Civil has uncovered 15 scams so far but the investigation remains open as officers believe that there could be more victims.
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