Property Fraud in Spain: What to Do If You Think You Are a Victim

First, stop the money

Before anything else: if a further payment is scheduled, stop it. Contact your bank
immediately and ask them to halt or recall the transfer, in writing. Recovery in these
cases correlates far more closely with how fast the funds were frozen than with how
strong the eventual case is. A well-founded claim against an empty account is still an
empty account.

Then stop signing. Do not sign a further contract, an extension, an addendum or a
settlement offered to you by the other side, however reasonable it looks, until someone
independent has read the file. Several of the situations that reach us were made
materially worse by a document the buyer signed after they already suspected something
was wrong.

What Spanish law calls this

The offence you are most likely describing is estafa, fraud. Article 248 of
the Criminal Code sets out the general form: deception sufficient to induce someone to
make a transfer to their own detriment or that of another. It carries six months to
three years in prison, and the Code says explicitly that the amount defrauded and the
economic harm caused are what set the sentence within that band. Where the sum is small
— €400 or under — the offence is punished by a fine instead, unless one of
the aggravating circumstances in Article 250 applies, in which case the ceiling rises to
eight years.

One point is worth knowing because it changes how the case is argued. Since Organic
Law 14/2022 came into force on 12 January 2023, the digital and electronic fraud
modalities sit in Article 249. If you are reading an article that describes the old
numbering — and a great deal of material online still does — it was written
before that reform.

The provision that matters most in property cases

For property specifically, the useful article is 251, which Spanish lawyers call
estafa impropia, improper fraud. It covers conduct that the general type
handles awkwardly:

• Someone sells, encumbers or leases a property when they no longer have, or never
  had, the power to dispose of it.
• Someone disposes of a property while concealing a charge over it.
• Someone who sold a property as unencumbered then burdens it, or sells it a second
  time, before the transfer to the first buyer has completed.

It carries one to four years. The reason it matters practically is evidential: these
conducts are defined by the precept itself, so the prosecution is not put to proving the
elaborate deceptive machinery that the general offence requires. If your situation is a
double sale, or a property that turned out to carry a mortgage nobody mentioned, this is
usually the sharper instrument.

Criminal, civil, or both

You are not obliged to choose one and abandon the other, and the choice is genuinely
yours to make. Under Article 116, anyone criminally liable for an offence is also civilly
liable where damage results. That civil liability is normally resolved inside the criminal
proceedings, which is why a denuncia is often the more economical route: one set
of proceedings produces both the conviction and the order to pay.

But Article 109 preserves your right to take the civil claim to the civil courts
instead. That can be the better path where the other party is solvent and identifiable,
where the conduct is a contractual breach that would struggle to meet the criminal
threshold, or where you want control of the timetable rather than the pace of a criminal
investigation. Civil liability takes three forms: restitution of the thing itself,
repair of the damage, and compensation for material and moral harm.

The practical answer in most property matters is that both routes are assessed
together at the start, and the decision turns on where the asset is and who still holds
it — not on which feels more serious.

Making the denuncia

A denuncia can be filed at any Policía Nacional or Guardia Civil station, or
at the duty court. You do not need to be in Spain to start, and you do not need to have
identified the recipient of the money. Bring, or send your lawyer, the following:

• Every contract and draft, including versions that were superseded.
• The full payment trail: transfer receipts, IBANs, dates, and the exact instructions
  you were given, in the form you were given them.
• All correspondence in its original form — emails with headers intact, not
  screenshots or forwarded copies. Where the instruction to pay arrived by email, the
  header data is frequently the evidence.
• The nota simple for the property, and any earlier one you were shown.
  Comparing the two is often the fastest way to establish what was concealed and when.

If the property is registered and still stands in a name you can identify, ask your
lawyer on day one whether a anotación preventiva de demanda should be sought.
Registering the existence of your claim is what stops the property moving cleanly to
someone who could later claim to have bought in good faith.

The patterns we see most

Fraud in Spanish property purchases is rarely exotic. It concentrates in a few places:
payment instructions altered in transit, so the deposit arrives somewhere other than the
lawyer’s client account; a seller who is not the registered owner, or is one of several
co-owners acting alone; charges, embargoes or an undeclared mortgage left off what the
buyer was shown; a property sold twice; and a “lawyer” recommended by the seller or agent
who turns out not to be independent of them, and occasionally not to be registered at
all.

The last of those is the one worth naming plainly, because it is the one buyers most
often walk into willingly. You can check whether a Spanish lawyer is registered with
their local Bar. Ours is the Bar of Cádiz, registration number 2745.

What good handling looks like

In order: freeze what can still be frozen; preserve the evidence before anyone asks
you to “resend” it; get the registry position established in writing; then decide the
route. Reversing that order — deciding to sue, then gathering documents — is
how the recoverable window gets missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is property fraud a crime in Spain?

Yes. Fraud (estafa) is punished under Articles 248 to 251 of the Spanish Criminal Code. The general offence in Article 248 carries six months to three years in prison, and the amount defrauded and the economic harm caused determine the sentence within that band. Aggravated cases under Article 250 can reach eight years.

Do I have to choose between a criminal complaint and a civil claim?

No. Under Article 116, anyone criminally liable is also civilly liable for the damage caused, and that civil liability is normally decided inside the criminal proceedings. Article 109 also preserves your right to take the civil claim to the civil courts separately if you prefer. Which route is better depends on who holds the asset and whether they are solvent, not on how serious the conduct feels.

What if the seller was not the real owner, or the property had a hidden mortgage?

That is dealt with by Article 251, which Spanish lawyers call improper fraud. It covers selling or encumbering a property you have no power to dispose of, concealing a charge over a property you sell, and selling a property twice before the first transfer completes. It carries one to four years. It is often easier to prove than general fraud because the conduct is defined by the article itself.

Can I file a denuncia from outside Spain?

Yes. A denuncia can be filed at any Policía Nacional or Guardia Civil station or at the duty court, and a Spanish lawyer can act for you under a power of attorney without you travelling. You do not need to have identified who received the money before you start.

How quickly do I need to act?

As quickly as you can. Recovery correlates with how fast the funds were stopped, not with how strong the case eventually looks. If a payment is pending, halting it in writing with your bank is the single highest-value step available to you, and it is available only until the money moves.

What should I not do?

Do not sign anything further, including a settlement or an addendum offered by the other side, until someone independent has read the file. Do not send screenshots or forwarded copies of the emails in place of the originals, because the header information is frequently the evidence. And do not rely on a lawyer introduced to you by the seller or the agent.

This article provides general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. Criminal and civil procedure turn on dates and on the facts of each case, and the right route differs between them. Please obtain advice specific to your circumstances before acting.

Reviewed by María Luisa de Castro, CEO at CostaLuz Lawyers — Updated 2026

This is general information, not definitive legal advice — every case requires individual analysis.