Alicante resident investigated over 6,200€ recovery fraud

The Guardia Civil has investigated a 73-year-old neighbour of Alicante as the alleged perpetrator of a 6.200€ fraud committed against a person from La Roda (Albacete). The suspect supposedly deceived the victim by posing as a lawyer and offering assistance to recover money previously lost in an earlier scam.

The investigation was carried out by members of the Equipo of the Albacete Guardia Civil Command as part of Operation Gruber. Officers managed to identify the suspect through the analysis of bank transfers and telephone numbers used to contact the victim.

The events date back to November 2025, when officers became aware that a resident of La Roda had fallen victim to a new fraud after having already suffered financial loss in a previous scam.

According to the Guardia Civil, the victim received a message via a well-known instant messaging application. The person on the other side introduced themselves as a lawyer and assured the victim that they could carry out the necessary arrangements to recover the lost money.

The proposal proved convincing to the victim, who saw an opportunity in the supposed professional to recover their savings. However, to initiate the procedures, the fake lawyer demanded payments of various sums of money.

The victim ended up making two bank transfers, one for 3.300€ and another for 2.900€, reaching a total financial loss of 6.200€ in this second fraud.

Money trail leads to Alicante

After learning of the incident, investigators focused their efforts on locating the account holders who had received the transfers and reconstructing the path of the money.

Inquiries confirmed that both receiving accounts were registered under the name of the same person. This finding, combined with the analysis of the telephone numbers used to communicate with the victim, allowed officers to link the events to the 73-year-old neighbour of Alicante who has now been investigated.

The Guardia Civil attributes the alleged commission of a fraud offence to him, although the judicial authority will be responsible for determining any criminal liability.

A second fraud exploiting victim desperation

The case corresponds to a type of cybercrime known as “recovery rooms”, a practice where criminals target individuals who have already suffered economic fraud.

Its main feature is that fraudsters exploit the hope of victims to recover lost funds in order to get them to make further payments.

To achieve this, they usually pose as lawyers, representatives of official bodies, or employees of specialized firms focused on fund recovery. Once they gain the victim’s trust, they request advance sums under the guise of professional fees, taxes, or alleged administrative charges.

In this way, those who have already suffered a first scam end up losing even more money, convinced that they are following the necessary steps to resolve their situation.

This type of fraud highlights the importance of being suspicious of unexpected contacts promising to recover scammed amounts, especially when they require advance payments and offer no verifiable guarantees regarding the identity of those handling the matters.

The proceedings conducted by the Guardia Civil have been forwarded to the Civil and Instruction Section of the First Instance Court of La Roda (Albacete), the judicial body handling the case.