On November 25, the Mossos d’Esquadra from the Premià de Mar Investigation Unit arrested nine suspects linked to a gang that fraudulently exploited people facing financial hardship to keep their apartment. To date there are 18 victims in this criminal network, with properties affected in Barcelona, Badalona, Terrassa, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Madrid, and Ciudad Real.
The investigation began in late 2022 when the Premià de Mar Mossos learned of a complaint in a Barcelona court about alleged fraud and document forgery that ended with the arrest of four suspects who allegedly seized the home of a woman who had died without legal heirs.
After these arrests, officers discovered that this was not an isolated case but part of a gang that allegedly used illegal means to strip vulnerable people of their homes and sell them for high financial gain. The modus operandi was almost always the same: they first targeted victims who tended to be vulnerable, with limited financial education and who carried bank debts or faced urgent economic need.
Once they had a person fitting this profile, they signed a private contract where the scammers paid the debts of these individuals and, in return, granted notarial power over the property to a legal or physical person under the pretext of handling the credit paperwork. With the signing of this contract before a notary, the victims granted powers, without their knowledge, to one of the scammers.
Legitimate Sales
With that power, the scammers could carry out a notarial deed selling the properties among themselves. For this process they used strawman companies, many of which had no deposited accounts. The sale typically took place in the same notaries where the power was granted, and they used a manipulated check that rarely reached the creditor bank.
It was at that moment the scammers could place the property on the market and sell it to third parties with no ties to the criminal network who wished to acquire the home legally.
Moreover, the strawman companies controlled bank accounts into which money from loan applications to financial entities flowed, funds that also served to allow the victims to pay the outstanding debts. The gang leader devised a scheme to request these loans from banks without being detected by tax authorities.
In this way the suspects simulated business with companies showing heavy commercial activity and apparent financial solvency, and they manipulated data to falsely reflect their financial state. They used the names of specialized firms to project a facade of significant economic activity. In some cases they also arranged insurance to cover contingencies and to have funds for other investments, according to the Mossos.
A Million in Debt
The investigators verified, through information contained in the tax return, that the suspects had manipulated data to suggest ties to major firms that later confirmed there was no real link.
Specifically, one of these firms requested in 2019 loans from different banks totaling more than 200,000 euros that were never repaid. Data from the Tax Agency show that between strawmen and companies the debt totals nearly one million euros.
Once investigators understood how the elaborate scheme functioned and identified the participants, on November 25 nine suspects were arrested, including the head of the plot, in Barcelona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Terrassa, Vilafranca, Ibiza, and Palma in Mallorca. Dwellings were also searched in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Terrassa, and Ibiza, where a hundred pieces of evidence were recovered, such as ledgers, deeds, powers, private contracts and strawman documents, as well as 6,500 euros in cash.
The Mossos continue the investigation with the collaboration of the National Police, the Catalan Tax Agency, and the Tax Agency of the Ministry of Finance. Of the nine detainees, four were released after giving statements to the police, while the other five were sent to the court of instruction on duty in Barcelona on November 27. They face charges of belonging to a criminal organization, fraud, misappropriation, money laundering, falsification of a public, official or mercantile document, and tax fraud .