A criminal group that impersonated women to register fictitious domestic partnerships has been dismantled.

BarcelonaOne day, you lose or have your ID stolen. Over time, you realize you have a common-law partner you don't even know about. This is what happened to twelve women whose ID cards were stolen by a criminal organization in order to use their data without consent and register fraudulent common-law partnerships.

The National Police have dismantled a criminal group that helped foreigners in an irregular situation obtain false common-law partnerships and fictitious registrations. To do so, they impersonated women with Spanish nationality and, through this deception, managed to form 212 fraudulent partnerships, through which they earned up to 3 million euros.

According to police sources, this criminal group recruited foreigners who wanted to regularize their status, since a common-law partnership provides benefits such as legal residency in the State or access to services and social rights, just as registration in the Spanish nationality system does.

15,000 euros to find a fictitious common-law partner

The organization connected clients with Spanish citizens who not only provided legal advice but also accompanied them to town halls to register their citizenship. It has even been discovered that in a short period of time, eight couples were registered in the same apartment. The criminal organization's services cost up to €15,000 per person, and the group earned more than €3 million.

Many of the procedures were carried out through an agency located in Salt, from which information is being extracted to continue the analysis of the case. The investigation into the criminal organization is still ongoing, and so far, a total of 212 fraudulent unmarried couples registered in the Catalan registry have been detected.

The investigation began in Cornellà de Llobregat, where six unmarried couples were detected with falsified identity documents. Based on this discovery, a total of 157 couples were studied, through which another 70 possible fictitious couples were identified.

In total, 227 couples were analyzed, and the first two people involved in this operation were arrested in Camprodon. As the investigation progressed, a total of 26 people were arrested in Cornellà de Llobregat and Girona, including five of the leaders of the criminal organization.

The group not only operated in Spain but also worked on the fraudulent regularization of foreigners residing in France and Belgium, where it had the necessary structure and networks to legalize common-law partnerships.