How a Malaga travel agency owner swindled 55 clients out of €100,000 to fund a fake 'soldier' she met online
It's like something out of a Netflix drama, à la Tinder Swindler or Inventing Anna.The owner of Malaga travel agency Florín allegedly fell victim to a 'romance scam', leading her to swindle 55 clients out of €100,000 (£87,084).She reportedly did so in order to fund a fake 'soldier' that she had met online. Florinda, the owner of the agency in Alhaurín de la Torre, Malaga - which collapsed in 2024 - has now been arrested.The National Police have also arrested 11 members of the criminal network that allegedly manipulated her. It all began with the 'soldier' requesting just €50 (£43) for an 'embassy document.'But within less than a year, the investigation revealed the owner had transferred €280,000 (£243,877) to her 'fake lover.' She even confessed she pawned her jewellery to help him.Police traced 80 per cent of these funds to a woman in Catalonia who acted as a 'money mule'. Florinda, pictured outside the agency, swindled customers out of moneyShe allegedly converted the cash into cryptocurrency or laundered it through a computer shop.Florinda had been a victim of the romance scam before being recruited by the criminal network to help launder money from new victims, SUR in English reported.The agency closed in 2024, prompting a wave of police reports from disgruntled customers. Those affected have now spoken out about the impact of the events on their lives.Clients of the agency, Francis and Carolina, had spent three years saving for a trip to Disneyland Paris for their daughters. Following Francis' successful kidney transplant, they booked the trip through the agency. In August 2024, they paid €5,340 (£4,650) to Florín - mostly in cash.But shortly afterwards, the agency stopped answering their calls. Victims of the scam were left devastated as a result, and unable to go on their booked trips (stock)The owner claimed to have retired and the staff to have quit. However, Florinda had been sending the funds received from her clients to a scammer posing as a soldier on a mission in Lebanon.Victim Francis told SUR: 'To believe that a soldier on the other side of the world would fall in love with a woman in Alhaurín de la Torre is strange.'But for her to spend a family's money on him is mind-boggling.'
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How a Malaga travel agency owner swindled 55 clients out of €100,000 to fund a fake 'soldier' she met online
