By Cathy Elelman • Published: 16 May 2019 • 10:50
A SUSPECTED scammer is under arrest for fraudulently offering rentals online.
The 39-year old man is accused of swindling four people out of at least €2,000 altogether, passing himself off as an intermediary between owners of apartments up for rent in Almeria city and tenants, and placing adverts on property portals.
Police said J.J.S.C. got people to pay him deposits which were never handed over to the owners. He told the landlords the tenant had changed their minds about the rental.
On other occasions he showed scam victims a supposed rental property from the outside only on the pretext it was not possible to go in until the current tenants moved out. According to police the elderly occupants had no intention of going anywhere.
The 39-year old produced rental contracts and reservation documentation with false information. Unwitting would-be tenants gave him deposits of between €150 and €450, although he rarely issued receipts.
Police specialising in online crimes managed to identify and locate the suspected swindler. It turned out he had been arrested before in connection with eight other similar scams since 2015.
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Cathy Elelman is the local writer for the Costa de Almeria edition of the Euro Weekly News.
Based in Mojacar for the last 21 years, Cathy is very much part of the local community and is always well and truly up on all the latest news and events going on in this region of Spain.
Her top goals are to do the best job she can informing the local English-speaking community, visitors to the area and the wider world about about the news in Almeria, to learn something new every day, and to embrace very new challenge this fast-changing world brings her way.
Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.