Ads of apartments for rent in a real estate agency in Barcelona. MASSIMILIANO MINOCRI
Andriy B. and ten other people will go to trial for converting rental flats into tourist apartments that they advertised on the Airbnb platform.
The members of the organization used companies with no activity and presented false pay slips to appear "solvency" before owners of flats in Barcelona, who rented their homes.
Once inside, the defendants did not pay the rental fees and transformed the house to accommodate tourists from all over the world, according to the order of the head of the court of instruction number 10 of Barcelona, Francisco Maíllo, which ends the investigation.
The car, which EL PAÍS has accessed, details that thanks to this scam, those investigated obtained benefits close to 600,000 euros.
The group led by Andriy B. continued to operate even after the outbreak of the pandemic and the declaration of the state of alarm: "Given the decrease or absence of tourists, they dedicated the flats to conventional rental, always without paying any amount to the owners", details the judge, who takes them to the bench for the crimes of aggravated fraud, false documents, belonging to a criminal organization and threats and coercion.
The Prosecutor's Office has not yet submitted its indictment.
The gang led by Andriy B. and his father, Ihor B., managed to acquire an important housing stock, all located in the Eixample district of Barcelona.
The court order cites 50 apartments, both private and managed by real estate.
When the owners demanded expulsion for non-payment of rent, members of the organization demanded amounts of money to abandon them and even threatened them, according to the court order.
“In no case did they intend to live in the apartments, which were mere instruments to commit crimes.
It was about getting the apartments, of which they would never pay the rent, to exploit them through temporary leasing for days to tourists through the network, ”says Maíllo.
One of those investigated, Nadia E., even filed false reports of breaking and entering with the police, when the truth is that neither she nor the others actually lived in those homes.
The judge considers her one of the "most active" members of the gang in the acquisition of flats.
In August 2020, after being arrested and released, Andriy B. and three other defendants "threatened and coerced" the tenant of a flat.
“Prepare to live hell.
If I have to kill you, I'm going to kill you, but you're going to leave from there."
The scam was possible thanks to the use of a series of ghost companies, without any activity.
These companies, such as Activas Sociosanitaria de Serveis Integrals, generated names that in the name of the candidates for rent to offer confidence to the owners.
These companies also served to receive payments for the tourist apartments that the occupants quickly put up for rent on the Airbnb platform.
