Alex Trelinski
A Russian man posed as a Policia Nacional officer to trick people into paying him for help in getting Spanish documents.
The 45-year-old fraudster operated in Calpe on the northern Costa Blanca and brandished a Policia Nacional badge and ID card.
The imposter has been arrested by the Guardia Civil and charged with three crime of fraud and one of impersonating a police officer.
The Guardia started looking into the conman in October after getting complaints from East European nationals in the area.
He’d pick somebody who needed help with getting official paperwork done, be it a residency document or a driving licence application.
His knowledge of different languages and his claim that he was a police officer, helped to build up the trust of a victim.
The man boasted to be personal friends with people in different public bodies as well as having contacts with the judiciary.
He promised to ‘speed up’ administrative processes for documentary submissions, with the help of a payment.
Three people were scammed for a total of over €4,000 with the Guardia looking into the possibility that there are more victims that have not come forward.
A Guardia Civil spokesman said that to avoid scams or frauds, people need to carry out all procedures through established legal channels or official offices, rather than via unaccredited third parties.
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