Civil Guard Recovers €150,000 for Fraud Victim in Madrid. A Madrid resident transferred €162,000 to a scammer after meeting on an app. The Civil Guard blocked the accounts and recovered most of the funds. The investigation is ongoing.
In Madrid, Civil Guard officers returned €150,000 to the victim of a large-scale fraud known as a 'romance scam.' The victim met the alleged perpetrator through a mobile app in January and, over several months, transferred him €162,000. After she contacted the Civil Guard station in Arroyomolinos, an investigation was launched, allowing investigators to promptly track the movement of funds and freeze part of the money in bank accounts.
Initially, €6,000 was frozen, and later another €144,000 was recovered and has already been returned to the victim. According to the investigation, the scammer tried to launder the proceeds by investing them in the purchase of construction materials in the city of Masamagrell (Valencia). This scheme was aimed at laundering criminally obtained funds.
The investigation is ongoing. Currently, the police priority remains the full identification and apprehension of the suspect, who is charged with fraud and money laundering. The Civil Guard emphasizes that timely reporting to law enforcement makes it possible to quickly trace financial flows and, in some cases, prevent the final loss of funds. The agency reminds the public to exercise caution with online acquaintances: do not transfer money to strangers, do not share financial information, and be wary of those who avoid video calls or express their feelings too quickly.
To verify the identity of the person you are communicating with, experts advise using reverse image search and carefully analyzing the behavior of new contacts on social networks. In recent years, such schemes have become increasingly sophisticated, and the amounts of losses—substantial. It is important to remember that the sooner a complaint is filed, the higher the chance of recovering the money. Issues of refund and account blocking often become a subject of discussion in other high-profile cases related to financial crimes: for example, the fate of the head of the prosecutor's office was recently discussed in the capital following a high-profile trial, as covered in detail in the article on staffing decisions in the Madrid prosecutor's office.
