Fourteen arrests as Palma fraud network is brought down

The fraud was committed against various banks

The National Police and the Tax Agency joined forces to carry out the investigation. | Policia Nacional

Andrew EdePalma17/12/2022 16:17

A joint investigation by the National Police and Customs Surveillance (Tax Agency) money laundering units has led to the arrests of fourteen people who were part of a Palma-based fraud network.

The value of the fraud is put at 1.3 million euros. It involved falsification of documentation in order to obtain loans that were diverted to individuals' accounts with no intention of repayment.

Among these loans were mortgages for people without the means to qualify for loans. Documentation was falsified on their behalf, the loans having been negotiated by a woman, said to be "well known" in the finance sector, who used her connections to obtain the loans. The clients paid for the work to process the mortgage documentation, but the loans never materialised.

This is an investigation described as having been enormously complex due to the large amount of documentation that had to analysed so as to identify the beneficiaries of the fraud. The investigation is still open and further arrests are not ruled out.