Receiving Stolen Goods: Legal Guide 2026 · Types, Penalties and Defence

Receiving stolen goods (receptación, broadly comparable to what English law calls handling stolen goods) is the offence committed by someone who profits from what another person has obtained through a robbery, a theft, a fraud or another offence against property, without having taken part in it. This guide covers the text of Art. 298 of the Spanish Criminal Code (CP), the penalty for each form of the offence, good-faith purchases and the differences from concealment and money laundering.

What Is Receiving Stolen Goods? What Art. 298 CP Says

The first section of the article, as worded by Organic Law 1/2015 (in force since 1 July 2015), reads as follows in our own unofficial English translation, for guidance only:

1. Any person who, with intent to profit and with knowledge that an offence against property or the socio-economic order has been committed, in which they took part neither as principal nor as accomplice, helps those responsible to benefit from its proceeds, or receives, acquires or conceals those proceeds, shall be punished with a prison sentence of six months to two years.

A prison sentence of one to three years shall be imposed in the following cases:

a) Where the items are of artistic, historical, cultural or scientific value.

b) Where the items are basic necessities, conduits, cabling, equipment or components of electricity supply or telecommunications infrastructure, or other items intended for the provision of services of general interest, agricultural or livestock products, or the tools or means used to obtain them.

c) Where the acts are especially serious, having regard to the value of the goods received or to the harm their theft would foreseeably have caused.

Sections 2 and 3 of the article deal with trading in the proceeds and with the cap on the penalty (the authoritative Spanish text is in the consolidated Criminal Code published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain's official gazette). Organic Law 1/2026, which made the rules on theft tougher, has not amended this article.

Put simply, a person commits receiving if, knowing that something comes from an offence against property or the socio-economic order, they receive, buy or conceal it, or help the offenders profit from it, with intent to profit. It is a later, standalone offence: the receiver steals from or deceives no one, but acts afterwards on the proceeds. Had they taken part in the earlier offence as principal or accomplice, they would be liable for that offence, not for receiving.

If You Bought Something That Turned Out to Be Stolen: What It Means and What Happens Next

Buying a second-hand item that turns out to be stolen does not make the buyer a criminal. Receiving requires knowing where the item came from, and someone who bought in good faith does not commit the offence, although they will normally have to return the item to its owner.

The police often trace the item through a mobile phone's IMEI number, a vehicle's chassis number or a report with photographs, and then summon whoever has it, either as a witness or as a person under investigation (investigado, the status of a suspect in Spanish criminal proceedings). It is worth finding out in which capacity you are summoned before explaining anything, and gathering whatever shows how the purchase was made: the advert, the conversations with the seller and the proof of payment. If the case goes ahead, the prosecution will have to prove that the buyer knew of the unlawful origin.

The Elements of Receiving Stolen Goods

All of these must be present:

• A prior offence against property or the socio-economic order: robbery, theft, fraud, misappropriation, extortion. If the goods come from another kind of offence, such as drug trafficking, the conduct falls outside Art. 298 CP and may amount to money laundering.
• No participation in that offence, either as principal or as accomplice.
• One of the acts described in the article: helping others benefit from the proceeds, or receiving, acquiring or concealing them.
• Intent to profit, that is, seeking a benefit for oneself.
• Knowledge that the prior offence was committed.

The law does not require the perpetrator of the earlier offence to have been identified or convicted; it is enough to prove that the offence took place and that the goods come from it. Art. 300 CP applies the offence even where that perpetrator «lacked criminal responsibility or was personally exempt from punishment» (unofficial translation).

Nor is there a negligent form of receiving: Art. 12 CP only punishes negligent conduct «where the law expressly so provides», and Art. 298 CP does not, unlike money laundering (Art. 301.3 CP). Buying without asking enough questions is not, in itself, receiving stolen goods.

Penalties for Receiving Stolen Goods: The Forms of Art. 298 CP

Spanish fines follow a day-fine system: a duration in days or months and a daily amount set according to the offender's means (Art. 50 CP).

Art. 298 CP sets no minimum value. Unlike theft, which is a minor offence (delito leve) when the value taken does not exceed €400 (Art. 234.2 CP), receiving has no threshold: value only counts towards the «special seriousness» of letter c), which does not carry a figure either. With its basic penalty it is a less serious offence (delito menos grave), the middle of the three categories of offence in Spanish law (Arts. 13 and 33 CP).

Is It Receiving If the Item Comes From a Minor Theft?

Yes. Until 2015, receiving the proceeds of petty infringements (faltas) had its own article, Art. 299, which only punished it when it was habitual. Organic Law 1/2015 abolished faltas and that article, and since then Art. 298 CP refers to «an offence against property» without distinction: knowingly buying the proceeds of a minor theft is also receiving.

What changes is the penalty, because of the cap in Art. 298.3 CP. Where the original offence carries only a fine, the receiver's prison sentence is replaced by a fine of twelve to twenty-four months, unless the penalty for that offence is equal to or lower than that fine: in that case, the penalty for the original offence is imposed in its lower half. That is the position with minor theft, punishable only by a fine of one to three months (Art. 234.2 CP): someone who receives its proceeds does not face prison. Unless there is trading (Art. 298.2 CP), the penalty is that fine in its lower half, one to two months; as that is a minor penalty (Art. 33.4 CP), receiving is then a minor offence (delito leve, Art. 13.3 CP).

Mobile phones are the exception. For acts committed from 10 April 2026, Organic Law 1/2026 made stealing mobile phones and other devices holding personal data an aggravated theft (prison of one to three years, Art. 235.1.10.º CP), except for devices on sale, in storage or on display in shops. That theft is never a minor offence, however cheap the phone, so the cap in Art. 298.3 CP no longer softens the buyer's penalty. More detail in our guide to buying a stolen phone and receiving stolen goods.

Good Faith or «Should Have Known»: How Knowledge Is Proved

Nobody admits buying something they knew was stolen, so the courts infer knowledge from circumstantial evidence: facts which, taken together, show that the buyer knew where the item came from or that the circumstances were such that they could not have been unaware of it. The most common are:

• The price. One far below the market price, the so-called knockdown price (precio vil), is the weightiest indicator.
• The seller and the place. A sale in the street or in a hurry, a seller who will not identify themselves, handovers at unusual places and times.
• The paperwork. No invoice, box or documents, or shifting explanations about where the item came from.
• The item itself. A blocked IMEI, or serial or chassis numbers that have been erased or tampered with.
• Repetition. Successive purchases from the same seller, or several units of the same product.

A single indicator is not enough: several are needed, proven and consistent, with no reasonable alternative explanation. A low price may be due to the condition of the item or to the seller's urgency; what counts is the sum of the signs. Good faith is shown by the opposite: a reasonable price for the condition of the item, a public advert, payment by a traceable method, conversations in which the seller explained why they were selling and, where it exists, the original invoice or a contract with the seller's details.

Receiving in Businesses: Second-Hand Shops, Gold Buyers and Scrap Dealers

For anyone who buys and sells used goods professionally, the key provision is Art. 298.2 CP: acquiring the goods in order to trade in them takes the penalty to its upper half and, if the trading is done through an establishment, adds the fine, disqualification and closure shown in the table above.

In addition, Art. 25 of Organic Law 4/2015 on the protection of public safety imposes documentary record-keeping obligations on, among others, the trade in used goods, the buying and selling of jewellery and metals, vehicle dismantling and the wholesale scrap trade. A properly kept register is the first proof of a trader's good faith. Each sector has its own guide: jewellery and gold buyers, copper and metal at scrap yards, laptops, consoles and components and stolen vehicles.

Receiving Stolen Goods, Concealment and Money Laundering: The Differences

The line between receiving and concealment under Art. 451 CP (encubrimiento, close to the common-law accessory after the fact) lies in the benefit: someone who helps the offenders profit from the proceeds without keeping anything is concealing; someone who seeks a benefit of their own is receiving. And someone who hides the goods to prevent the offence from being discovered is concealing (451.2.º), whereas someone who hides them with intent to profit is receiving. The exemption for close relatives in Art. 454 CP is provided for those who conceal, and Art. 298 CP contains no equivalent.

With money laundering, the difference lies in the object and the purpose: laundering requires neither an offence against property nor intent to profit, can be committed by the original perpetrator and seeks to hide the origin of the assets or make them look legitimate; its penalty is considerably higher.

Procedure, Limitation Period and Return of the Item

Receiving in its ordinary forms is tried under the abbreviated procedure (procedimiento abreviado), used for offences punishable with up to nine years in prison (Art. 757 of the Criminal Procedure Act, LECrim). In those forms it becomes time-barred after five years (Art. 131.1 CP): none carries more than five years of prison or disqualification, not even the special disqualification in Art. 298.2 CP. When it is a minor offence, as with receiving the proceeds of a minor theft without trading, it is tried under the procedure for minor offences (Arts. 962 et seq. LECrim), not the abbreviated procedure, and becomes time-barred after one year (Art. 131.1 CP).

As for the item, civil liability begins with the return of the very same property, which applies «even if the property is in the possession of a third party who acquired it lawfully and in good faith», without prejudice to that person's right to claim against whoever is responsible (Art. 111.1 CP, unofficial translation). A good-faith buyer commits no offence, but in principle returns the item and claims the price back from the seller, unless they acquired it in the form the law requires to make it irrecoverable (Art. 111.2 CP).

On the civil side, Art. 464 of the Spanish Civil Code lets someone unlawfully deprived of movable property recover it; but if the possessor bought it in good faith at a public sale, the owner must refund the price paid, and purchases from a lawfully established trader in similar goods are governed by the Commercial Code. If there is a conviction, the gains from the offence may also be confiscated (Art. 127 CP).

How a Charge of Receiving Stolen Goods Is Defended

• Knowledge. Checking whether the indicators are proven and whether, together, they rule out an ordinary purchase.
• The original offence. Checking that an offence against property or the socio-economic order is on record and that the item is the same one, identified by serial number, IMEI or chassis number.
• The legal classification. Distinguishing receiving from concealment or from participation in the earlier offence, and challenging the «special seriousness» or the alleged purpose of trading.
• The penalty. Applying the cap in Art. 298.3 CP and considering the mitigating circumstance of reparation of harm: handing over the item or repairing the harm before the trial hearing can reduce the penalty (Art. 21.5 CP).

What to Do (and What Not to Do) If You Are Summoned Over Receiving Stolen Goods

What to do: keep the item exactly as it is and hand it over if asked to; keep the advert, the conversations, the seller's profile and the proof of payment; ask in what capacity you are being summoned and attend with a lawyer if it is as a person under investigation.

What not to do: do not sell, give away or alter the item once you know it may be stolen, because that makes good faith very hard to maintain; do not delete conversations; do not ask the seller to «confirm» a version of events; and do not make a statement without first reviewing with your lawyer which documents to provide.

If you are already under investigation or have been charged, our page on criminal defence in receiving stolen goods cases explains how we approach these proceedings. At Alonso Sala, with more than 15 years of experience in criminal law, you can call us on +34 91 078 65 74 for an initial assessment of your case.