Two Dutch nationals have been arrested by the Guardia Civil for a running a scam where they offered non-existent mortgage loans to foreign property buyers across Alicante Province and the Mar Menor.
The two men, aged 32 and 38, lived in luxury villas in the Torrevieja and Guardamar areas, and are said to have committed at least a dozen acts of fraud, with at least 80 thousand euro being illegally obtained, with a San Javier judge investigating around 200 thousand euro lodged in bank accounts in Britain, America, and Holland. Neither of the men had been officially registered as running a business in Spain, and both were denied bail by the judge.
The Guardia got involved when a Los Alcázares real estate agency reported that a number of their customers had been conned into buying the bogus one-hundred-percent mortgages which came with set-up costs, including up to five thousand euro for the use of a notary. The purchasers found that they got absolutely nothing for their money, and would appear at the notary to sign papers, with the Dutch duo nowhere to be seen, and the notary telling them that nothing had been paid over.
The men struck at real estate agencies in Balsicas, Fuente Álamo and Los Belones in the Murcia region, as well as playing the same trick in agencies on the Orihuela Costa and in Torrevieja.
