Article 250 Spanish Criminal Code: Aggravated Fraud (2026)

Article 250 of the Spanish Criminal Code sets out the circumstances in which basic fraud under Article 248 becomes aggravated fraud. The classification is decisive: the basic type allows the sentence to be suspended, whereas the aggravated type almost guarantees actual imprisonment. As criminal defence lawyers, we explain when it applies.

The Grounds Under Article 250.1

• It affects essential goods, housing or other items of recognised social utility.
• It is committed by abusing another's signature or by removing or concealing a public document.
• It affects goods of historical, artistic, cultural or scientific value.
• It is of special gravity given the loss and the economic situation in which it leaves the victim.
• The value of the fraud exceeds 50,000 euros or affects a large number of people.
• It involves abuse of personal relations or of the offender's business or professional credibility.
• It is procedural fraud (deceiving the court to obtain a ruling harmful to a third party).

Penalties for Aggravated Fraud

• Art. 250.1: prison of 1 to 6 years and a fine of 6 to 12 months.
• Art. 250.2 — hyper-aggravated type: prison of 4 to 8 years where several aggravating factors concur or the value exceeds 250,000 euros.

Procedural Fraud

This consists of deceiving the court through false evidence or pleadings to obtain a ruling that harms the assets of the opposing party. It is common in simulated civil litigation and claims over non-existent debts.

Defence Strategies

1. Challenging the amount to downgrade the applicable type.
2. Denying the personal-relations aggravating factor where the trust is already part of the deceit.
3. Disputing "special gravity", an evaluative and arguable concept.
4. Compensation before trial to trigger the mitigating factor of Art. 21.5.
5. Strategic guilty plea where the evidence is strong, to halve the penalty.