A man is being investigated for reporting identity theft to avoid paying €7,700 in traffic fines.

The Civil Guard is investigating a 42-year-old man in Huércal-Overa, Almería, accused of fraudulently reporting that his identity had been stolen for 11 years while he was in prison in order to avoid paying €7,700 in traffic fines.

According to a statement from the Police Command, the man reported that other people had registered up to eleven vehicles in his name without his consent , which resulted in the fines. According to his version, he had not purchased any cars and even claimed that he "didn't know how to drive," and was in jail at the time of the incident.

The investigation began in February, when the suspect appeared before the Civil Guard in Huércal-Overa to report that he had received "multiple traffic fines and payment orders" from the Tax Agency in which, he claimed, he was not involved . The man said that these fines had occurred while he was in prison, between 2013 and April 2024, making it "impossible" that he had purchased any vehicle or committed any infractions.

Agents from the Civil Guard's Investigation Department began verifying the information provided. An initial check of the Directorate General of Traffic ( DGT ) database confirmed that eleven vehicles were registered in his name. His signature appeared on all the contracts, which was also compared with his ID, " completely matching in all cases."

Furthermore, the contracts were accompanied by copies of his ID, and there were no prior reports of loss or theft of the document, which reinforced the hypothesis that the suspect was the one who actually signed them. During the analysis of the information, the officers also confirmed that he had accumulated "several reports for driving without a license ," something that "contradicted his statements."

Various prison permits

One of the "key" points of the investigation was the verification of the alleged uninterrupted prison term—between 2013 and 2024. Although the suspect had been deprived of his liberty for years, the Civil Guard verified that he had numerous prison leaves , "many of them coinciding with the dates on which the offenses he now sought to attribute to third parties were committed."

In light of all the evidence gathered during the investigation, the Civil Guard is now investigating him as the alleged perpetrator of the crime of simulating a crime , for having filed a complaint as a strategy to avoid financial responsibility arising from unpaid fines and accumulated tax debt, and not as a result of identity theft.