The Provincial Court of Valencia has sentenced a man to two years in prison after declaring him guilty of a crime of document falsification and fraud. The accused admitted to having deceived a Canadian citizen making him believe that he was the beneficiary of an inheritance of 9.3 million US dollars (almost 9 million euros), and that to receive it he had to make several payments that exceeded 122,000 euros. In addition to the prison sentence, he must compensate the victim with 5,820 euros as partial compensation for the damages suffered.
According to information published by the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, and the ruling of the Provincial Court, in 2018 the man contacted his victim through a letter (as in other scams) in which he posed as a lawyer. from a fictitious office. In it he informed him that he was the beneficiary of a millionaire inheritance deposited in the safe in Spain.
After informing him that the person who died in an earthquake in China had chosen him as his heir, the scammer requested that a series of payments be made by transfer which, in theory, were necessary to be able to release the funds and transfer them to a bank account in their country.
He used false documents to deceive his victim, but was eventually discovered and convicted
To give more truth to his story, the scammer used false documents including certificates issued by a fictitious security company and sworn statements supposedly signed before the Spanish Ministry of Justice. Although the information published ensures that they contained certain flaws, the victim, being a foreigner, did not know both the language and the Spanish legal system, and, therefore, was convinced that it was a legitimate operation so that made transfers worth more than 122,000 euros.
Following the victim’s complaint, an investigation was carried out by the Economic Crime Brigade that allowed the identification of the accused who hHe had used a false passport to open bank accounts in Spain and divert the funds obtained. During a search of his home, documents were found that confirmed the forgery and the setup of the scam.
After the trial is held in March 2024, this lreached an agreement in which he accepted the charges. The judicial resolution establishes that the facts constitute a continuing crime of document falsification and a crime of fraud, according to the provisions of articles 390, 392 and 248 of the Penal Code. In addition to the two-year custodial sentence, the convicted person must pay a four-month fine at a rate of eight euros per day.
You must compensate the victim compensate the victim in the amount of 5,820.00 euros plus legal interest as provided in article 576 of the LEC. And the sentence also establishes that the prison sentence will be suspended for a period of two years, conditional on “the prisoner does not commit a crime within said period in accordance with the provisions of arts. 86 and concordant of the Penal Code, and must also notify the court of changes of address.”