Crime

Fake estate agents attempt to buy €6m Marbella villa with counterfeit banknotes

National Police and Austrian authorities foil international scam seeking to net €300,000 commission in gold bars

09/11/2026 Actualizado a las 11:22h.

The National Police, in coordination with Austrian law enforcement, have foiled an international real estate scam after a gang of fake property advisers attempted to ... buy a luxury villa in Marbella using more than two million euros in counterfeit banknotes.

The fraudsters targeted an Austrian businessman selling a mansion valued at six million euros in the exclusive La Zagaleta development. After building trust through formal meetings, the swindlers agreed an initial cash payment of two million euros. However, they demanded a condition: the owner had to pay them €300,000 in gold bars at a café in Vienna as an advance commission for their services.

Suspicious of the urgent demand to transfer gold abroad, the seller alerted Austrian police, who contacted the economic crime unit (UDE) at Marbella police station.

A simultaneous joint operation involving over 30 officers was launched. Officers in Vienna intercepted the emissary sent to collect the gold bars, while National Police officers stormed a hotel meeting on Marbella’s Golden Mile where the property purchase was being staged.

Police seized two money-counting machines and paper bags containing €2,093,800 in cash. Forensic checks revealed that only €30,000 consisted of genuine legal tender strategically placed to deceive the seller, while the remaining sum was fake.

Two men arrested in Marbella and their accomplice in Vienna have been remanded in custody, charged with aggravated fraud, forgery and membership of a criminal organisation.