Campervan scam on rise as Alicante people out of pocket for thousands

One man paid €11,000 for a campervan in Alicante, but nine months later, nothing had turned up. In fact, buyers across Spain have handed over tens of thousands for camper vans that had never been converted, and never delivered.

A 46-year-old Spanish businessman has been arrested in Tibi, inland from Alicante, after Guardia Civil officers connected him to an alleged nationwide camper-van fraud. Investigators say at least ten people paid deposits for large vans that were supposed to be turned into liveable campers. The average asking price was around €20,000. Several victims paid more than half up front and never saw a finished vehicle.

How a TV report started the paper trail

Complaint number one landed at the Guardia Civil post in nearby Ibi on June 16, when a woman said she had spotted the firm on a national television investigation into camper-conversion cons. She had agreed, in September 2024, to buy a van advertised on a classifieds site for €18,000 and transferred €11,000 on the promise of delivery, fully fitted, that November. Nine months of excuses followed. No keys. No van.

Ibi’s investigation team then found a workshop where the suspect rented parking bays. Eight vans were in there. None showed conversion work. Imports from Germany still sat in the names of previous German owners. In some cases the same van had been “sold” to more than one buyer at once.

Same script from Granada to the Balearics

More complaints came in from Granada, the Balearic Islands, Navarra and Sevilla. The pattern matched every time: conversion promised, money taken, nothing handed over. Contracts arrived incomplete, with no signature, no date, and no delivery deadline. Payments went into bank accounts that were not in the suspect’s name, which made tracing him harder.

Warrants were already out from courts in Ayamonte (Huelva) and Granollers (Barcelona) for similar alleged frauds. After a month of digging, officers arrested him in Tibi on 16 July. Case papers went to Investigative Court No. 2 in Ibi, which released him with precautionary conditions.

Camper boom, second-hand traps

Spain’s appetite for camper vans has pulled in honest converters and a rougher crowd on classifieds. Spanish TV’s laSexta’s Equipo de Investigacion spent June on that market. Architect Fernando Martin, from Badalona, told the programme he saw a van on Wallapop at €13,000, agreed €11,000, and handed over a €2,500 deposit at the seller’s door. That van then vanished without a trace. Another buyer, Lola Palau, said she paid €7,000, then €4,800 for a pop-top, then another €5,000 for “homologacion” (certification). Total: €17,800. Still no vehicle. A man using the name Isaac told the programme he had sold vans on to other people, and that police had taken vehicles, yet still sold the same ones more than once. Those interviews were in a separate broadcast; they are not a police ID of the Tibi defendant. They do show how deposits and unsigned paperwork keep recurring.

Anyone buying a used van in Spain should insist on seeing the vehicle, matching German or Spanish papers to the chassis, and paying only through a traceable method once a dated, signed contract exists. Deposits wired to a third-party account are a red flag.