The Provincial Court of Málaga has convicted five individuals for defrauding foreigners with fake National Lottery prizes. The scheme operated from a home in Benalmádena.
The Provincial Court of Málaga has issued a guilty verdict against five members of an organisation that defrauded citizens from Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands for two years using the so-called 'Nigerian letter' scam. The convicted individuals, who accepted the prosecution's charges, have been punished for continued crimes of fraud and document forgery.
The ruling confirms that the criminal activity lasted from August 2012 to March 2014. The operation centre was located in a home in Benalmádena occupied by two of the main accused, where the letters were drafted, envelopes prepared, and phone calls from victims were answered.
The method was always the same: nominative letters were sent that pretended to be issued by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, with the public agency's letterhead, announcing to the recipient that they had won a million-euro prize. To claim it, the victim had to pay small amounts in advance as fees or management costs. However, the prize never arrived.
The letters provided phone numbers and contact names for the victims to receive instructions on how to claim the prize. One of the network members even responded in English to assist the foreign victims.
During a judicial search carried out on February 11, 2014, agents found one of the implicated individuals drafting documents under the supervision of another accused.
The investigation confirmed both frustrated attempts and completed scams. Among the former was the case of a woman residing in Geneva who received a letter announcing a prize of €600,000, but became suspicious when she called the provided number and filed a complaint in Spain. A neighbour from Brussels also suspected when asked for a deposit of €899 and chose not to pay.
Other victims did hand over money. The ruling lists numerous deposits made from Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, ranging from €815 to €4,320. Some victims even made multiple payments, convinced that this would grant them access to the supposed prize.
The sentence describes the roles of several convicted individuals. One of the accused opened a bank account using a fake passport from Sierra Leone with a fictitious identity and was arrested while attempting to withdraw money from that account, which had already been judicially blocked. Other defendants provided bank accounts opened exclusively to channel money from the scams, which received deposits of tens of thousands of euros from unidentified individuals.
The Public Prosecutor's Office recognised a continued crime of fraud in ideal competition with another continued crime of document forgery for four of the accused, while two others were charged as necessary collaborators solely for the fraud. There were also mitigating factors of damage repair and undue delays, the latter being highly qualified, as the processing of the procedure lasted almost 7 years.
Before the oral hearing, several of the accused deposited amounts to partially compensate the victims. All accepted the charges, allowing the court to issue a guilty verdict, understanding that the accepted qualification was correct.
The ruling imposes two years in prison and eight months of fines on four of the convicted, while the necessary collaborator is sentenced to two years in prison and five months of fines. Additionally, all must jointly and severally compensate several victims, including €4,025 to one victim residing in Switzerland, €2,439.58 to another, and €1,670 to a third. The ruling is now final.
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