Alicante Police put the squeeze on lemon fraudsters

Police have arrested two men and are talking to a third about the sale of stolen lemons in the Alicante area.

Two administrators of two different companies have been arrested and a third man is being investigated regarding the fraudulent sale of lemons in Spain.

The scam involved more than 59,000 kilos of lemons which brought in a total of 14,000 euros. The arrests took place after the Civil Guard put into action its plan against thefts in agriculture and livestock farms.

The investigation took place when the police learnt that two companies in the fruit and vegetable sector located in Alicante and Orihuela during the years 2021 and 2022, had suffered scams for the sale of more than 59,000 kilos of the Bern variety of lemons for the amount of 14,759.87 euros.

In order to identify the fraudsters, the ROCA team of the Torrevieja Civil Guard took charge of the investigations.

In the first phase of the operation, the police agents identified how the scam was set up. Two companies posing as solvent fruit and vegetable sellers obtained the trust of the lemon farmers through an intermediary.

The criminals then bought the lemons from the farmers for a slightly higher price than normal and at the same time negotiated a payment method.

When the farmers didn’t receive payments on time they were given excuses by the company for why they couldn’t pay. No effort was made to make any payment.

When the police traced the companies it was found that the police already had records for similar scams and three men have been charged with fraud.