We recently reported on a scam company hiding behind a real Spanish law firm. JR Abogados is a well respected firm based in Madrid but unbeknown to them they were being used as a front for an illegal scam operator. The scam being perpetrated was one we are all too familiar with, the fake court case, the fake award, the tax bill, the lost cheque.
The first contact in December requested the sum of £961.77 to get the ball rolling and pay presumably legal fees. This was paid to a Rias Zacamoh Ameo Garcia so obviously a private account held with Spanish bank BBVA, strange, why was this not a corporate account for the law firm.
The victim in this case was informed that a court case had taken place and the award was €20,250 but before this could be released a sum of €1,417 was requested to pay the “tax”. This demand came with genuine Spanish tax forms pre completed to add authenticity.
When converted to Sterling the victim paid £1254.56 to Sebastian Cortes the transfer went to a different bank account in Spain. The bank account was held with Imagin Bank, the digital bank division of CaixaBank. One would have thought that for a tax bill this would have been paid directly to the Spanish tax authorities, not in this case.
The tax form sent to the victim was Modelo 115 but this form is for withholding tax and payments on account relating to Income, or income from the leases or subleases of urban property, so absolutely nothing to do with a court award. Spain has no tax form for taxes on court awards because there is no tax to pay but to the untrained eye and certainly for someone who doesn’t speak or understand Spanish this all looks very real.
After the victim paid the “tax”, good to their word the scammers sent a cheque for £14,000 with a covering letter, problem was, the cheque was missing. On contacting the scammers to report this they said they would reissue the cheque but the fee would be £500. By this stage the victim became wary and didn’t send the additional fee and ceased contact. But it didn’t stop there.
Enter the Scottish Police
The victim decided that she had been defrauded so reported the matter to her local Police force who began an investigation, because this is an ongoing enquiry we will not publish full details but hope that this will inform and deter other potential victims. Naturally as an organisation TCA assist not only the police but also other authorities in the quest to expose and stop as much fraud as possible.
The police investigation will result in evidence and Intelligence being submitted in order to build a bigger picture for other Police forces. Should there be a certain amount of frauds committed by perpetrators, Police Scotland or other nation Police Forces may seek to pursue an International /Interpol enquiry.
Our comment
Once again we see a senior citizen suffering at the hands of fraudsters. The total amount lost is £2,216 which may not seem significant but it’s not only the financial damage this sort of fraud creates but the psychological impact it has on the victim. The frustrating point is that we reported this scam company in October 2021, well before our victim had been contacted in December 2021, if only this victim had taken the time to carry out some research before being sucked in maybe this particular scam may have been averted.
Once more we will repeat; if you are told out of the blue that you have won compensation from a court case you didn’t know anything about, a court case that never actually happened then step back. As we have said, these scammers are getting more sophisticated and all the supporting documents you will be sent look real but they are not. Everything you are told or sent will be a lie, convincing though it may seem.
This is yet another “after the event” case, again we reiterate once money is paid especially to a foreign bank and paid by bank transfer then it’s almost certain that there will be little or no chance of getting anything back. We are pleased to have been of assistance to the Scottish police in this case and hope they are in a position to provide justice to this victim.
Once again, we have reported this to the real law firm.
Finally, a copy of the sort of documentation used by the fake JR Abogados may be downloaded here
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk