Kidnappings, cybercrime and sexual offences lead crime records in Malaga province

Kidnappings, cybercrime and crimes against sexual freedom (excluding assaults with penetration) are the main criminal offences that are driving, albeit slightly, crime in the province of Malaga. The balance sheet drawn up by the Ministry of the Interior for the third quarter of 2025 shows an increase in both conventional (1.4%) and online (9.2%) crimes, which adds up to an overall increase of 2.7% compared to the same period last year. The star of the report is kidnappings: a total of 13 were recorded, eight more (an increase of 160%) than over the first nine months of 2024.

Shortly before 11pm on 8 June, a man shouted for help on the motorway in the Campanillas district. A driver stopped to help him and alerted the emergency services. The man claimed that some hooded men had kidnapped him at gunpoint while he was driving along the Benahavís road and had later released him.

Several months earlier, on 31 January, another man was also kidnapped in San Pedro Alcántara (Marbella). He was held for seven hours. He tried to escape by jumping off the balcony of the property where he was held. Although he fell, the National Police managed to help him. His kidnappers were arrested despite trying to flee. These are only two of the cases from the first nine months of the year.

The category of criminal offences committed online grew with 1,246 offences, from 13,611 to 14,857. This implies an average of more than 40 per day. The most significant increase is observed in the section classified as "other cybercrime", with a 20.5% rise (1,972 compared to 1,637 in 2024). Computer fraud is up 7.6% (12,885 compared to 11,974).

Among these figures is the case of a 70-year-old man who fell in love on social media with a woman who presented herself as a US naval sergeant on a mission in Baghdad. The fake soldier promised the victim that she would come to visit him soon and asked him for money for various reasons. In total, he transferred her 318,573 euros. This fraud, known as the 'love scam', uncovered an international network that was dismantled with the arrest of five people, one in the province of Malaga.

Crimes of a sexual nature increased by 1.7% during the third quarter of 2025, despite a 6.7% decrease in assaults with penetration. The report attributes this sustained increase, although considerably lower than in previous years, to the "active policies that raise awareness and reduce social and personal tolerance of this type of crime, which has resulted in the victims' greater willingness to report them to the police. This reduces the levels of under-reporting".

Among these latest figures is the reported sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl by a boy her age. The events occurred on the Antonio Machado promenade in the early hours of the morning in June, when the victim was walking with two friends. According to her account and that of witnesses, the detainee appeared by surprise, slapped her buttocks and then began to touch her genitals.

The report points out that, from January to September, one fewer intentional homicide was committed than over the same period in 2024 (18 as opposed to 19). Attempted murders fell even further, with six fewer cases recorded (47 compared to 53 in 2024). Likewise, robberies with violence and intimidation (by 20.8%), robberies committed in homes, establishments and other premises (22.5%), thefts (3.4%) and drug-trafficking (7.7%) also dropped