Three managers of the real estate group, based in Alicante since 2018, were arrested on charges of the pyramid is estimated at 5.4 million euros for embezzling money that his mostly French-speaking clients spent on buying or building luxury homes in the Alicante town of Busot that were never delivered to them.

The Civil Guard, which carried out this operation, called serpis and launched late last year, three other employees of the company are also being investigated for their alleged involvement in the scam, which has already affected 60 people.

The real estate group advertised luxury homes in and around Busot via the Internet, usually on social media, mainly targeting Francophone citizens and it consisted of six people: client recruiters, a promoter and a construction company. “The directors of the promoter and the construction company, father and son, were the main members of this criminal group dedicated to this pyramid scheme in which the roles were clearly defined,” the armed institute said in a statement.

The network mainly committed two types of fraud: one of them was to offer the sale of the same already built house to several buyers, and the other was to execute a contract to build a house with a client. In either of the two ways, the fraudster paid but never became the owner of the house..

falsified documentation

To carry out the scam, the suspects used simple records issued by the Land Registry, falsifying the original documents. After falsifying the documentation, it was used to conclude sales contracts. orstentosa real estate company office located in Playa Muchavista de El Campello (Alicante), latest technology and high class cars. that used the director of the company, served as a hook to deceive their potential clients, wealthy people who did not suspect that it could be a scam.

When a client bites, they draw up contracts that charge them upfront either the reservation of the house or the money needed to start construction, depending on each case. However, the money was immediately transferred to the personal accounts of members of the criminal group, who later tried to transfer it without a trace to foreign accounts.

After a while, the clients realized that it was a scam. Investigators identified 60 victims, including clients listing for unfinished houses, repeatedly sold houses, suppliers of materials or services for construction, banks.

5.4 million deceived

Thanks to the operation of the Civil Guard, out of the stolen 5,400,000 euros, one million has already been returned to their rightful owners. In addition, twelve bank accounts used by the gang were blocked. On the other hand, investigators located 18 construction workers who were theoretically working for the promoter. However, the Armed Institute found that they did not have legitimate employment contracts and were not paid as agreed.

The alleged authors ordered works for which they did not provide the necessary materials. To keep them from leaving the prospective company, they were paid wages from time to time or forced to take advantage of some kind of subsidy. Among many other violations, they were forced to dump construction debris outside designated areas.

According to the Civil Guard, a large amount of documentation was seized that “exposes the alleged criminals.” After a detailed study of all the collected documentation, they are charged with crimes of fraud, forgery, marital status, tax fraud, money laundering, against workers, against the environment and belonging to a criminal group.