Man held after fraud cash was moved to British account

National Police have arrested a 31-year-old man in Alicante province after tracing almost €10,000 from an alleged fraud to his bank account and then on to Britain.

Officers said the investigation began when a bank customer reported two unauthorised transfers totalling €9,992. They identified one account holder and established that the money was moved immediately to another account in Britain, allegedly to hide its origin.

The police statement did not say what happened to the second transfer, but said the suspect was later located and detained on suspicion of money laundering.

According to the force, the case fits a pattern increasingly seen in fraud inquiries, where money is briefly routed through third-party accounts before being sent elsewhere to make the trail harder to follow.

Police said their findings have been passed to the judicial authorities.

How police say the money trail was traced

The investigation centred on the recipient account after the victim alerted their bank to the missing funds. Officers then followed the payment trail and linked the transfer to the suspect in Alicante province.

Once identified, officers opened a search operation to find him and complete the arrest.

In a statement issued on 13 November, the National Police said people who let others use their bank accounts can sometimes be unaware that the money comes from crime, but warned that receiving and forwarding such funds can still carry legal consequences.

The force also said that moving cash between multiple accounts can help conceal where it came from and make it harder to identify the people behind the original fraud.

Alicante has featured in other money-laundering investigations in recent weeks, including a separate police operation reported by CNS in October.