Guardia Civil breaks up fake-rental scam rings, burglary gangs and gas connection fraud

Gas connections in Arroyo de la Encomienda

Officers from the Arroyo de la Encomienda local police and the Guardia Civil uncovered a gas supply fraud affecting 26 homes in Arroyovereda, most of them owned by Sareb, a state entity that the report describes as dependent on the Spanish government. The inspection began after a complaint about several illegal connections in flats on Calle Narciso Monturiol. On Thursday, 12 November, technicians from the gas supplier checked every connection for more than eight hours, escorted by police to prevent disorder. They found 26 cases and fitted digital meters on the spot to stop the occupants continuing the alleged fraud. Investigators are now looking into the residents for the alleged offence of fuel fraud. The town hall says more than half of the illegal connections involve tenants on 'Sareb rental' contracts, and that committing a crime would lead to cancellation of the lease and eviction. The mayor has demanded that Sareb terminate every low-cost rental contract in which fraud has been found.

Fake holiday and student rental listings

The Guardia Civil dismantled two criminal groups that ran fake listings for holiday and student flats, operating from Madrid and Barcelona without any link between them. Officers identified seven people linked to the groups and arrested four of them. The scammers advertised flats, claimed rival buyers existed to rush payment, and sent photos of identity cards that did not match their own identities, some taken from lost or stolen documents or from earlier fraud victims. Once victims transferred money, the advertisers stopped replying and no lease was ever signed. Police say the proceeds moved through bank accounts of third parties, known as 'mules', who passed the funds on for a commission. Officers asked for the accounts where victims had paid to be frozen early on, and the Guardia Civil explained why.

The Guardia Civil said the speed of its actions mattered most in the case.

“The speed of these actions is essential to prevent the funds from being withdrawn.”

The case covers five fraud offences, one money laundering offence and one of belonging to a criminal group.

Seven arrested over Madrid burglaries

Guardia Civil officers arrested five men and two women of Colombian nationality, whom police link to 15 burglaries in homes across the Community of Madrid. The investigation began in May, when officers spotted a rise in burglaries in one area and noticed the same pattern. Other cases attributed to the group include Rivas Vaciamadrid, Arganda del Rey and Tres Cantos, plus homes in Burgos, Valladolid, León and Asturias. Police say the two women rang intercoms to check whether anybody was home and kept watch outside, while the men forced doors using different techniques, sometimes committing two or three burglaries in one day. Investigators found a rented flat in Madrid used to store stolen goods and a rural house in León from which the group allegedly set out for thefts in northern Spain. Raids in late October, carried out with court authorisation at properties in Madrid and León, led to the seven arrests, and five of those arrested were sent to prison.

Two women jailed over Palencia and Valladolid thefts

In the Arrombamento operation, the Guardia Civil in Palencia arrested two women in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, and both were sent to prison as suspected perpetrators of belonging to a criminal group and burglary with force in homes. Police say the group had been operating in Spain since August, with thefts in Astudillo, Melgar de Yuso, Viana de Cega and Aldea del Fresno, taking cash, jewellery and a precision scale made of precious materials. The suspects used cars with foreign plates so they could leave Spain quickly and keep offending in places such as France and Germany. Officers stopped cars that were apparently about to leave the country and found the jewellery and scale in one of them. Three other people are under investigation, and the Palencia command said further arrests are not ruled out. The court ordered the prison terms late on 12 November.

Colombian burglary ring7

@RENT 5 fraud groups4

Arrombamento burglary group2

Patcheap van theft2

Colombian burglary ring

7 people

@RENT 5 fraud groups

4 people

Arrombamento burglary group

2 people

Patcheap van theft

2 people

Data from the article text

Soria van theft traced to Barcelona

In Soria, Guardia Civil officers arrested two suspects in Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Barcelona, over a theft at a business on the La Güera industrial estate in El Burgo de Osma. The theft took place in February and involved a van loaded with building materials valued at close to 30,000 euros. Days after the theft the van was found in Molins de Rei and moved to a municipal pound, where it was set on fire the same night in a blaze presumed to be deliberate. Investigators linked the two suspects to Sant Vicenç dels Horts, and officers from El Burgo de Osma travelled there in November to make the arrests with the Barcelona command. One of the detainees was brought before the duty court in Martorell and later sent to Brians I prison. The case was run under the 'Patcheap' operation and the investigation remains open.