A blow to a scheme that charged 6,000 euros to reunite migrant families in Palafrugell.

BarcelonaMore than a year ago, a woman reported to the Palafrugell Citizen Assistance Office that someone had drawn up a rental contract for an apartment owned by her husband, even though he had been dead for some time. What she didn't know at the time was that this suspicion would eventually uncover a network of fraudulent family reunifications and document forgery. An investigation by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and the Palafrugell Local Police resulted on July 30th in the arrest of a 57-year-old man for allegedly committing 23 crimes against the rights of foreign citizens and another 23 for falsifying public, official, or commercial documents.

According to investigators, the detainee was the co-owner of a former insurance agency that had been inactive since 2023, which leveraged its network of contacts and the client base accumulated since 2009 to falsify rental contracts. He used empty apartments for sale, inherited homes, properties owned by elderly people in nursing homes, or even second homes. Using these fictitious contracts, foreign citizens—mostly of Moroccan origin—requested family reunification and registered at these addresses without actually residing there. In return, the detainee received up to €6,000 per regularized family. In some cases, the most vulnerable property owners agreed to participate in the fraud in exchange for monthly payments of between €300 and €500.

The investigation, which is still ongoing, has so far implicated 30 people—15 arrested and 15 under investigation—for their alleged participation in a network that allegedly facilitated at least 30 fraudulent family reunifications in Palafrugell, out of a total of 300 files reviewed, dating back to 20%. Empty apartments, inheritances, and second homes were the setting for the fraud.

Among the 16 addresses investigated are homes used without the knowledge of their owners, but also cases in which the owners—due to financial need or lack of supervision—agreed to allow irregular registrations. Some of these properties were in the process of being sold, others were empty apartments belonging to elderly people in nursing homes or even to neighbors who had already passed away. Furthermore, at least one instance involved a second home inhabited by the owner. In all cases, the rental contracts submitted to the administration were false, drawn up with the sole purpose of proving a fictitious residence to facilitate immigration procedures.

The fraud went beyond fraudulent registrations. According to police sources, some of the people who managed to regularize their status through these methods also allegedly accessed aid and social benefits to which they were not entitled, although the authorities have not yet quantified the exact scope of these actions.

A pattern that set off alarm bells

The key to uncovering the plot was the detection by the Palafrugell Town Council's Citizen Assistance Office of a pattern of irregularities. Following the initial complaint and other indications, such as the high number of people registered at certain addresses, the council promoted the creation of a specific commission in coordination with the Local Police and the Mossos d'Esquadra Investigation Unit. This collaboration allowed for the initiation of a systematic review of family reunification cases processed in the municipality over the past four years.

At the same time, the Mossos d'Esquadra are also investigating the possible involvement of a second individual: the owner of another agency in the town, a 68-year-old woman, who has been charged with two offenses against the rights of foreign citizens and two others for document forgery. It is not ruled out that there are links between the two agencies or that this second professional acted as a temporary collaborator in some cases.

The main suspect, who had no criminal record, was brought before the Bisbal d'Empordà duty court on Thursday, July 31. The foreign nationals involved were arrested and are expected to testify in the coming days. The crimes they are accused of are less serious, related to the use of false documentation or irregular registration in the city's residence, so no precautionary measures have been issued against them.