Hard Economic Times Sharpen Spaniards' Sneaky Side

DANIEL WOOLLS

MADRID (AP) — Leather seats are disappearing from cars. Precious jewels are vanishing from drawers. TVs are spirited out of homes in the dead of night.

These crimes are not what they seem. And the perpetrators are not the usual suspects.

The culprits are everyday Spaniards reporting thefts of valuables, then filing bogus insurance claims. The scams vary but they share an often slapdash nature and a pressing goal: scrape together a few extra euros as harsh economic times bite.

"What we have noticed because of the crisis is domestic, amateur fraud. People who are not criminals, who have a lightbulb go off in their head and attempt fraud that is small in monetary terms but above all stupid," said Javier Fernandez, who represents a federation of Spanish insurance companies.

It's all a sign of increasing desperation in Spain as unemployment creeps up toward 23 percent, austerity measures sting and officials forecast economic gloom for years to come.

The targets of all this sneaky creativity do not stop at insurers. Sloppily forged monthly passes are cropping up on Madrid buses. Once upstanding citizens are taking part in Internet swindles that seek fees for non-existing services or products. In one case, police say, a man faked his own kidnapping in a botched attempt to secure ransom money from his own brother.

Other older, tried-and-true scams are also on the rise, like going through someone's mailbox, grabbing a bank statement and using the account number and a fake ID to get cash from a teller, said Madrid lawyer Jose Ramon Ventura, who has defended both victims and perpetrators of fraud.

"This kind of thing is on the rise across the board," he said. National Police confirm petty fraud cases have shot up in the crisis, but have no specific figures.

Fernandez said that in 2010, the last year for which his association UNESPA has complete numbers, fraudulent insurance claims rose 16 percent from the previous year, and most were amateur jobs.