Fraud and economic crime lawyer in Velez-Malaga

How a lawyer can help you 

Bank fraud and online scams

Phishing, impersonation, false suppliers, fraudulent changes of bank details, online purchases, investment scams and authorised push-payment fraud are increasingly common. Speed matters: the bank should be notified, the transaction trail preserved and a police or court complaint prepared with the available information.

We examine messages, domains, email addresses, telephone numbers, recipient accounts, authorisations and authentication systems. We also assess the roles of those involved and possible routes to recover funds.

Fraud or breach of contract?

Not every broken promise or unpaid contract is criminal fraud. The elements required by Spanish criminal law must be present, including a material deception causing the transfer of money or property. The intention at the beginning of the transaction is often central.

This distinction prevents a purely civil dispute from being presented as a crime, but also prevents a genuine fraud from being wrongly treated as no more than a debt claim. Contracts, negotiations, payments, performance and later conduct must be reviewed together.

Misappropriation and dishonest management

Misappropriation may arise where money or property is received subject to a duty to return it or apply it for a purpose, but is later treated as the recipient’s own. Dishonest or disloyal management concerns abuse of management powers causing loss to assets under another person’s administration.

Disputes often involve shareholders, relatives, directors, professionals or people entrusted with funds. Accounts, powers, resolutions and the purpose of each transaction need to be analysed as a whole.

Corporate offences, false documents and money laundering

Economic investigations may examine company resolutions, documents, invoices, accounting records, transfers between companies and source of funds. Money-laundering allegations require specific analysis of knowledge, origin of the assets and purpose of the transactions.

A bank transfer or business relationship alone does not establish criminal participation. The conduct of each person must be identified and commercial decisions, regulatory irregularities and criminal acts kept legally distinct.

Preparing a complaint or defence

Arrange contracts, invoices, receipts, emails, messages, bank statements and previous demands chronologically. Preserve original files and devices where possible. For online scams, record dates, telephone numbers, profiles, links and bank accounts.

For the defence, reconstruct the commercial rationale for each transaction, prove goods or services supplied, identify who made decisions and preserve complete accounting records rather than isolated documents.

Doubts you may have