Dismantled a gang led from A Coruña that defrauded 156 people | Radio Coruña

The National Police has dismantled a criminal group specialized in real estate scams who was made with more than a million euros cheating 156 victims to those who offered the purchase of real estate at a low price and whose leader was hiding in A Coruña, reported this Wednesday in a statement. The three detainees -the leader of the plot and his two lieutenants- along with a fourth person pretended to be businessmen who had more than 40,000 properties procedent

They pretended to be entrepreneurs

The three detainees – the leader of the plot and his two lieutenants – along with a fourth person pretended to be businessmen who had more than 40,000 properties from banks.

With this ruse, indicates the National Police, contacted legally established real estate agencies to which they provided false documentation to give more credibility to the deception and offered the sale to individuals, appropriating the signal they gave for the purchase.

When did the operation start?

Operation “Fuenteovejuna” began in March 2019 when four victims of Toledo brought to the attention of the National Police that an acquaintance had offered them the purchase of homes for a very advantageous price, with the only requirement of paying a down payment of 1,000 euros.

These first data led the investigators to a consultancy in Toledo, through which the scammers were marketing the homes, which allowed the first 26 victims to be identified.

Days later, they detected the existence of 130 more victims, who had been captured by the criminal group using the services of another real estate agency, this time located in Fuenlabrada (Madrid).

With the leader of the plot and the members of the group fully identified, the agents managed to arrest his two lieutenants and also investigate a fourth member of the group.

However, the main person in charge had been unaccounted for since the end of 2019, although there were suspicions that he could be hidden in A Coruña.

Then, the Provincial Brigades of Toledo and A Coruña established a device that tracked him for six months, obtaining his arrest last June.

In addition to charging him with the crimes of belonging to a criminal group, a continuing crime of fraud and falsification of commercial documents, he had various legal claims for his alleged participation in similar scams, so after passing to the Court of Instruction of Guard of A Coruña, his entry into prison was decreed.

Inquiries about the group leader’s environment indicated that his assets had suffered an unusual increase that exceeded 10 million euros and that he had designed a network of companies behind which he hid 351 properties valued at around 12 million and 52 vehicles -the majority high-end.

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