A Marbella woman has lost almost €50,000 after falling victim to a sophisticated phone scam that began with what appeared to be a genuine bank security alert.
The case has now reached Spain’s highest court, which has ruled that a Marbella judge should oversee the investigation into the fraud.
According to court documents, the scam started when the victim received a message asking her to authorise a transfer of €4,000.
Concerned by the notification, she called the phone number that had sent the alert, believing she was contacting her bank.
Instead, prosecutors say she was speaking to fraudsters.
During the call, the woman was allegedly persuaded to hand over sensitive banking details, including card security information.
The criminals then carried out 12 unauthorised transactions, draining a total of €49,935 from her account.
Supreme Court steps in
The investigation became entangled in a legal dispute between courts in Marbella and Terrassa after police arrested a suspect in Catalonia who was allegedly linked to several fraud investigations across Spain, including cases in Tenerife, Valencia, Valladolid and Madrid.
Among them was the Marbella victim’s complaint.
However, both prosecutors and the Supreme Court concluded that any potential connection to other investigations did not change where the case should be handled.
Judges noted that fraud cases should generally be investigated where the deception took place and where the victim suffered the financial loss.
As a result, the Supreme Court has ordered Marbella’s Court of Instruction No. 2 to continue the investigation. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.
Part of a wider fraud epidemic
The case comes just weeks after Spain’s Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 15 people accused of stealing almost €400,000 through similar scams involving fake bank calls.
The operation, led by the Guardia Civil, spanned multiple provinces and resulted in the arrest of eight men and seven women aged between 19 and 55.
Investigators believe the group carried out at least 26 separate frauds targeting businesses, sports clubs, associations and private individuals across Spain.
One victim, a sports club in Alicante province, reportedly lost more than €53,000 through a technique known as ‘vishing’ – a form of fraud in which criminals impersonate bank employees over the phone to gain access to victims’ accounts.
Police continue to warn residents never to share banking codes, passwords or card security details over the phone, even if the caller appears to be from their bank.
