Spanish Hotel Scammed Out of €3,600 by Guest Facing 26 Arrest Warrants

September 2022, at a hotel in southern Spain. A guest has to pay €418 for her stay. When it is time to pay, she shows the receptionist a PDF document indicating an authorized bank transfer of €4,018. She claims she made a mistake by adding €3,600 to the amount actually owed.

The receptionist agrees to refund the difference. She immediately makes an instant transfer of €3,600 to the guest’s account. The document she presented was misleading: the establishment lost that amount without receiving the announced payment, according to the statement published on October 27 by Portugal’s Judicial Police.

The case did not end with that bill. Spanish courts sentenced the woman to one year and nine months in prison for fraud. She also received a 10-month sentence in another case. In total, Spanish authorities issued 26 arrest warrants for her.

In Portugal, a receptionist foils the same scam

The woman is believed to have continued her activities in Portugal. Accompanied by her two young children, she stayed at several establishments in Lisbon and Coimbra without paying for her nights, according to police. Investigators suspect she repeated her scheme there.

At a Portuguese hotel, she is said to have presented an excessive payment receipt again. But this time, the receptionist checked the establishment’s bank account directly and discovered that no money had arrived. The guest then left with her children, claiming she was going to withdraw cash from an ATM, reports Portugal Resident.

Spanish police wanted to include her name in a campaign featuring their ten most wanted fugitives. Portuguese police eventually tracked her down in Lisbon. Brought before the court of appeal, she was placed in pretrial detention pending her extradition to Spain.