A chain of bank security failures allowed a couple in the province of Almería to spend 352,207.69 euros belonging to another person, money from an inheritance, on purchases and withdrawals over several months; Now, the Provincial Hearing of Almería sentenced the author to four and a half years in prison, imposed a 15-month fine and left a harsh remark on the actions of the BBVA bank, declared secondary civil liability by the court.
According to the Spanish portal Noticias Trabajo, the case was decided by the Second Section of the Almería Provincial Hearing, which found it proven that Laurentiu Marian N. committed a continued crime of fraudulent use of payment methods, after having used someone else’s account between October 2022 and March 2023. Furthermore, the court set compensation of 269,407 euros in favor of the victim, an amount calculated after deducting the 82,800 euros already recovered.
The decision states that the defendant accessed the money through a contracted debit card “without the holder’s knowledge or consent” via remote banking, managing to make withdrawals at ATMs and make purchases in establishments for around five months.
How the account was emptied and how the victim found out
The sentence describes a pattern of repeated operations, with “several withdrawals of 2,000 euros, almost daily”, which allowed the convict to live beyond his means while the holder did not realize what was happening.
The scheme ended when the injured party, who did not use electronic banking and reserved the money to buy a house, checked the balance and realized that the account had practically been emptied, leaving a remainder of around 4,000 euros.
The steps progressed after the complaint, with an investigation by the Guardia Civil, which would be decisive in recovering part of the money and identifying goods purchased with the fraudulent card.
82,800 hidden euros and luxury purchases
In April 2023, the Guardia Civil carried out a search of the defendants’ house in Campohermoso (Níjar), finding 82,800 euros in cash hidden in the shutter of the master bedroom, according to the court decision.
In addition to the money, several goods acquired with the fraudulent card were seized, including
“hygiene products, jewelry, cell phones, electronic devices and luxury perfumes”, in a context that the court considered incompatible with the financial situation declared by the couple.
This material and the discrepancy between income and lifestyle were relevant elements for the assessment of civil liability and for the court’s interpretation of the benefit obtained with the victim’s money.
Woman sentenced for profit and third defendant acquitted
The convict’s wife, Daniela N., was absolved of criminal liability for not appearing in the ATM recordings, but the Hearing condemned her as a “profit participant”, obliging her to jointly compensate the injured party.
To support this decision, the judges pointed out that the couple was unemployed and lived on a pension of 425 euros, but had a standard of living considered unjustifiable, also mentioning sending money to Romania.
The sentence also acquitted a third defendant, Sorin Lucian M., who had been named by the main accused as the person who had provided him with the card, due to the lack of objective evidence confirming this version and because the co-accused’s statement had not been properly subject to contradiction.
Criticism of BBVA for verification failures and alerts
One of the harshest points of the court’s ruling is directed at the BBVA bank, declared subsidiary civil liable, with the court stating that the entity “failed the duty of care” by allowing the process to progress without minimum safeguards.
According to the court’s decision, the bank sent the card to an address in Viator indicated by the fraudster, instead of sending it to the customer’s real address in Roquetas de Mar, without making a verification call to confirm the change.
According to the , the Hearing also criticizes the fact that successive and suspicious operations were authorized, including withdrawals of 2,000 euros almost daily, despite the card itself having a limit of 1,000 euros per day, without effective alerts or contact with the holder being triggered in the event of a pattern of movements considered anomalous.
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