What do I do if I am a victim of a scam?

What is the crime of scam? What to do in case of scam? What are the penalties for fraud? Does the crime of fraud prescribe? All these and other questions will be resolved in this article. 

What is the crime of scam?

The crime of fraud is typified in articles 248 and following of the Penal Code. It is a crime that exploits deceptive elements to profit from the harm of others. Among the most frequent scams we can find scams online, online, by credit card, etc.

Cheating means cheating another, for profit, to induce them to carry out an act of disposition to their own injury or that of others. That is, for the conduct to be criminal the scammer must make a profit. In addition, it is not necessary that you obtain it from the swindled, since the Penal Code admits that the injured party is a third party.

What to do in case of scam?

The first thing that the criminal lawyers at Forcam Abogados advise, a law firm specializing in fraud crimes, is to identify those responsible for the scam, and to collect evidence (documentation, etc.) to present at a later time. By having the documentation and other evidence, you can accurately assess the amount defrauded.

Normally, you are confused and do not know very well how to act, it is key in these first moments to establish a good criminal defense strategy in order to find the best possible solution.

All the scams that are consummated are a crime in the Penal Code, so if you are affected by a scam, you should contact a criminal lawyer as quickly as possible to advise you on the most effective options according to the circumstances of the fraud crime .

Going to court is usually the best option when you know the scammer or want to quickly recover the fraudster.

What kinds of scams are there?

The crime of swindling is a patrimonial crime, with which through sufficient deception, and concurring profit motive, an essential error is caused in the victim that leads him to carry out an act of patrimonial disposition to the detriment of herself or a third.

There are the following classes:

- Patrimonial transfers with profit motive and using computer manipulations or similar. 

-Manufacture, introduce, possess or facilitate computer programs intended to commit scams. 

-Use credit or debit cards or travelers checks to carry out operations to the detriment of its holder or a third party.

What are the penalties for fraud?

For those guilty of fraud, a prison sentence of 6 months to 3 years is provided. In the event that the amount of the fraud does not exceed 400 €, the penalty to be imposed will be 1 to 3 months. To establish the penalty will take into account: 

- The amount of fraud.

- The economic loss produced in the victim or harmed.

- The relationship between the victim and the scammer.

- The means used by the fraudster.

- Other circumstances that the judge deems appropriate.

What are the penalties for fraud in the most aggravated cases? 

The aggravated type of the crime of fraud is punishable by imprisonment, in particular the criminal guilty of an aggravated fraud can be sentenced to 8 years in prison and a fine of 24 months.

However, the general penalty of the aggravated crime of fraud will be imprisonment for 1 to 6 years and a fine of 6 to 12 months, as long as one of these circumstances is known:

- It falls on things of first necessity, houses or other goods of recognized social utility.

- Perpetrated abusing the signature of another, or subtracting, hiding or rendering useless, in whole or in part, any process, file, protocol or public or official document of any kind.

- It falls on assets that make up the artistic, historical, cultural or scientific heritage.

- Special gravity magazine, considering the entity of the damage and the economic situation in which the victim or his family are left.

- The value of the fraud exceeds 50,000 euros, or affects a large number of people.

- It is committed with abuse of the existing personal relationships between the victim and the fraudster, or take advantage of the latter's business or professional credibility.

- A procedural scam is committed. They are incurred by those who, in a judicial proceeding of any kind, manipulate the evidence on which they intend to base their allegations or employ another similar procedural fraud, causing error in the judge or court and leading it to issue a resolution that harms the economic interests of the other party or a third party.

- When committing a crime, the culprit would have been condemned for at least three crimes included in this Chapter. No history that is canceled or should be will be considered.

- If the circumstances included in numbers 4, 5, 6 or 7 coincide with that of number 1 of the previous section, prison terms of four to eight years and a fine of twelve will be imposed to twenty-four months. The same penalty will be imposed when the value of the fraud exceeds 250,000 euros.

Does the crime of fraud prescribe?

The crime of general fraud prescribes at 5 years. In the most serious cases, the crime of fraud prescribes at 10 years.


Contact us, and our lawyers specializing in criminal law will study your specific case. 

At Forcam Abogados we have offices in Barcelona, Madrid and Reus.