Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
A MAN operating an online campervan sales business was arrested for defrauding a minimum of 12 people in Spain.
The 46-year old Spaniard from Tibi (province of Alicante) swindled deposits for cars with the customers receiving nothing.
Alicante, Barcelona Granada, Navarre, Balearic Islands and Sevilla were all affected, though the Guardia Civil is concerned that the numbers could go up.
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A fraudster advertised large vans he had turned into homes on an online buying and selling platform.
The average price was around €20,000 and some people paid more than half of it upfront, according to the Guardia.
The owner of the business was also subject to several search warrants in Ayamonte and Granellers (Barcelona), issued by local courts for a variety of scams.
The investigation began in mid-June, when a woman from Ibi (Alicante), told the Guardia that she realized she had been scammed while watching a TV programme
She read a report about a company that swindled people by selling campervans but not delivering them once payments had been made.
Guardia officers visited a workshop at Tibi, where the owner had rented parking spaces to park vehicles that he was allegedly converting for sale as campervans. Eight of these were parked during their inspection.
The vehicles were inspected thoroughly and no modifications had been made to convert them into camper vans.
The cars were actually imported from Germany, and not registered in Spain.
The company sent out the contracts for camper van conversions and deals without a date, signature or deadline.
In order to avoid being found, the fraudster gave his victims bank account information that was not his own.
The Guardia Civil investigations is still ongoing.
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