Man arrested for €1 MILLION car parking scam at Spain’s Alicante airport

A 50-year-old man has been arrested for a €1million car parking scam that took place at the Alicante-Elche Airport.

The National Police have arrested a 50-year-old man as the alleged perpetrator of a €1million car parking scam that took place in the Alicante-Elche airport car park to avoid paying the full amount of the corresponding vehicle parking fees. It is believed that the fraud began in 2018 and the amount may exceed one million euros, as reported by 20minutos.

The method used by the man was simple, he would drive into the Alicante airport car park using a vehicle that had false license plates, parking the vehicle he would then take the false number plates and switch them with another vehicle’s plates that had been parked in the car park for months. He would then take the vehicle, which had remained in the car park for months, to be cleaned and handed over to his client.

This allowed for the man to pay the minimum parking fee of 10-15 min per stay in the car park, even if the vehicle in question had spent a whole year in the car park. Police Officers have located more than 20 bent number plates used by the perpetrator to carry out the scam and more than 170 vehicles involved in this scheme. The man has since been charged with fraud and document forgery and has been handed over to the Elche Examining Magistrate’s Court, according to a statement given by Police.