Police in Spain uncover €1 million luxury car scam involving imported vehicles from Germany

 
The Guardia Civil and the National Police have dismantled a criminal organisation that is thought to have made nearly €1 million in a luxury car scam. 

In the operation, seven people have been arrested, another has been investigated and 27 victims of the scams have been found. 

Police seized computer equipment, documentation, jewellery and luxury personal effects, a high-end vehicle and €25,450 in cash. 
The investigations began as a result of a complaint filed in Navarre in which a person claimed to have been the victim of a fraud involving the purchase of a high-end vehicle. Continuing with the investigations, it was found that several complaints had also been filed in the towns of Madrid, Pamplona and Seville. 
As a result of these complaints, the agents detected others of similar characteristics spread throughout the country and were able to locate several of the victims. 
For this reason, the agents focused their inquiries on the location of those responsible for these scams, their degree of participation, the identification of their bank accounts and of the companies employed in the commission of the crimes committed. 
Once those allegedly responsible had been identified, an operation was set up to locate the leader of the organisation, who was finally tracked to a luxury development in a village in Aljarafe (Seville). 

Police also found in the town of Dos Hermanas an imported vehicle that had been paid in full by one of the victims and that the ringleader had placed in the name of one of the companies involved in the plot 
The organisation offered to buy and sell high-end cars imported from Germany through various companies, at very competitive prices. They offered their services as intermediaries in the purchase of the car, managing the documentation and the transfer. 
In order to gain the trust of the victims,  the gang arranged trips to Germany so that the interested parties could verify the existence of the vehicle and prove it. 
Subsequently, they asked the victims for the full payment of the vehicle with the promise to receive it within 10 to 15 weeks. After that time, the client did not receive their car, being met with evasive answers until they closed the company and moved to another city. 
It should be noted that to commit the scams, the organization employed four companies managed by the ringleader. To do this, they opened offices or branches in Barcelona, Malaga and Seville that changed location every few months.