A NATIONWIDE fraud racket charging massive amounts of money to forge paperwork allowing immigrants to gain residence has been busted with 148 arrested in 15 provinces, mostly in Granada.
One of the latter is the ringleader, a businessman who had earned around half a million euros through the scam.
Documents such as job contracts and payslips allowed the migrants to register as workers with the social security office, but no contributions were made, although the fake employees managed to claim dole money, which is normally contributory.
Certificates showing the migrants were registered on the padrón, or town hall census – which even illegal immigrants are allowed to do and which does not cost any money – were forged and charged for, and even habitability warranties for newly-built houses, which enabled the holders to obtain legal residence permits.
Immigrants who paid between €1,000 and €5,000 for forged paperwork – most of whom are Moroccan – are among those arrested.
In addition to the 105 arrested in the province of Granada, another 23 were caught in Murcia, 11 in Jaén and the rest in Almería, Ciudad Real, Sevilla, Lleida and Badajoz.
