Guardia Civil in Puerto Rico (Mogán), on the south west of Gran Canaria, together with the Territorial Teams of the Judicial Police of Puerto Rico and Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura), have arrested a 28-year-old woman, with prior history of crimes against property, as the alleged perpetrator of a scam using fake ads for holiday houses on the internet.
The detention came after a complaint was lodged back in February by an injured party who reported that, after having seen an advertisement they had contacted and reached an agreement to rent an apartment from its alleged owner, who claimed to be an American and lived in that country.
In addition, the victim indicated that the alleged owner sent a photograph of a passport of an American woman that had been obtained on the Internet. The victim claimed to have had to make a payment of €2,000 for rent and a security deposit. After they made the bank transfer, the supposed landlady apologized for not sending the keys, which raised the suspicions of the complainant.
Agents began their investigation with several lines of enquiry that allowed them to identify two people as possible perpetrators, a man and a woman living in Fuerteventura, the woman was already known to the police because they had previously lived in Arguineguín, where she had been detained at least once before for other property crimes including usurpation of civil status and theft, according to the Instituto Armado “Armmed Institute” (Guardia Civil).
