Two men have been arrested by the Guardia Civil, aged 58 and 52, for allegedly defrauding fruit and vegetable producers in the Vega Baja with the purchase and sale of oranges.
In total, there are three injured parties. The scam resulted in a total of 54,162 kilos of citrus production being involved, for an amount of 7,019 euro, which wasn´t paid for.
According to the Guardia Civil, the victims trusted the businessmen because the commercial contracts were signed through a company of “apparent financial strength” with a registered office in Alicante. Once the perpetrators of the acts disappeared without paying the debt incurred, the injured parties went to the company’s address, where they discovered that there was no company in that place.
The Torrevieja Guardia Civil began its investigations at the end of January following a complaint from a producer from the town of San Fulgencio, who claimed to have been the victim of a scam after agreeing to sell and collect a quantity of oranges from which he never received the benefit.
As a result of the investigations, it was found that the detainees used the trust generated by previous transactions with the farmers. By establishing relationships, they carried out satisfactory small-scale commercial operations to later agree on the purchase of larger merchandise.
Likewise, the way of proceeding was the same with all the swindled, one of them being from San Fulgencio and the others from Guardamar del Segura, as was known upon learning of the three complaints. Through deception, the denounced businessmen advanced a small amount as bail and thus appear financially solvent.
Later, once the oranges were collected and delivered, they postponed the transfers with different excuses until finally, they disappeared without meeting the required payments.
The agents, after obtaining the necessary evidence, found that said company already had a history of non-payment to suppliers. Those investigated had a history and had been previously arrested for acts similar to these.
For these reasons, the two men were arrested and, after giving a statement at the police station, they were released. The proceedings have already been made available to the Orihuela Court.
