Criminal Lawyers in Aggravated Fraud

Aggravated fraud typified in Art. 250 CP constitutes the upper level of the basic fraud offence of Art. 248, with a qualitative and quantitative leap in the punitive response. While basic fraud carries 6 months to 3 years' prison, the aggravated modality raises the penalty to 1 to 6 years' prison and 6 to 12 months' fine, and a hyper-aggravated type under Art. 250.2 reaches 4 to 8 years' prison when the damage exceeds 250,000 euros. The protected legal interest is the victim's patrimony, but the aggravation attends to circumstances that increase the disvalue of the action or the result: special vulnerability of the victim, seriousness of the economic damage, abuse of qualified relations or simultaneous injury to other relevant legal interests. Supreme Court case-law has consolidated an extensive doctrinal body on the interpretation of each aggravated subtype.

The specific aggravating circumstances of Art. 250.1 CP are eight. First, the fraud falls on basic necessities, dwellings or other goods of recognised social utility. Second, abuse of another's signature, or the removal, concealment or destruction of a court file, record, protocol or public or official document. Third, it affects the artistic, historical, cultural or scientific heritage. Fourth, special seriousness, in view of the extent of the loss and the financial situation in which it leaves the victim or their family. Fifth, the defrauded value exceeds 50,000 euros or the fraud affects a large number of people. Sixth, abuse of personal relations between victim and defrauder or exploitation of business or professional credibility. Seventh, procedural fraud through manipulation of evidence or a similar procedural trick. Eighth, multi-recidivism: the offender has final convictions for at least three less serious or serious offences of the same nature from this same chapter, disregarding records that are or should be expunged. The large number of people in the fifth is not the mass crime, which is a rule of the continuing offence (Art. 74.2 CP).

The hyper-aggravated type of Art. 250.2 CP raises the penalty to its maximum when circumstance 1 (basic necessities or dwellings) concurs with circumstance 4, 5, 6 or 7 of the previous paragraph, or when the defraudation value exceeds 250,000 euros. The consequence is radical: 4 to 8 years' prison makes suspension of execution practically impossible (Art. 80 CP requires a sentence not exceeding 2 years, with exceptions), translating into effective imprisonment. Prison comes with a fine of 12 to 24 months under the day-fine system, civil liability ex delicto for the full damage (with legal interest from the commission and possible moral damages), possible accessory special disqualification from the profession or trade directly linked to the offence (Art. 56 CP), and criminal record with effects on immigration, public employment and administrative licences.

The technical defence in aggravated fraud rests on four consolidated axes. First, attack on the amount: when aggravation rests on the 50,000-euro threshold, the difference between 49,999 and 50,001 euros determines a radical punitive leap; contradictory economic expert evidence is decisive to reduce the damage value considering depreciations, partial compensations received, real market values and admissible deductions. Second, challenge to the nature of the good: when aggravation is invoked for habitual housing, it must be proven that the affected property was effectively such at the time of defraudation (not second home, not investment); census registration, utility bills and social and school ties help to prove or rule this out. Third, discussion of personal relationship or professional credibility: exploitation must be qualified and specific, not generic. Fourth, repairing the harm under Art. 21.5 CP: as an ordinary mitigating circumstance it confines the 1-to-6-year range of Art. 250.1 CP to its lower half (1 year to 3 years and 6 months, rule 1 of Art. 66.1 CP); if full or substantial payment into court before trial leads the court to treat it as highly qualified, the penalty drops by one or two degrees (rule 2 of Art. 66.1 CP): to between 6 months and just under 1 year, or between 3 and just under 6 months, ranges compatible with suspension of the sentence (Art. 80 CP).

In current forensic practice, aggravated fraud has multiplied especially in four typical scenarios: real-estate fraud on habitual housing (amounts on account, double sales, concealment of charges), investment fraud and Ponzi schemes with multiple victims, massive cyber-fraud (phishing, fake brokers, crypto-scams) activating the mass-crime aggravation, and procedural fraud in civil or commercial litigation. Organic Law 14/2022 reorganised basic and computer fraud (Arts. 248 and 249 CP), and Organic Law 1/2026 has amended the multi-recidivism circumstance of Art. 250.1.8.º CP. Note also that Art. 250.2 CP only leads to the 4-to-8-year range when the first circumstance concurs with the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh, or when the amount defrauded exceeds 250,000 euros: combining other circumstances with each other does not change the 1-to-6-year range. At Alonso Sala, with 15+ years' experience, we articulate exhaustive technical defences: forensic economic expert evidence to contest amounts, documentary expertise to verify signatures and authenticity of media, strategy of timely repair and, where appropriate, negotiation with private prosecution to reach agreements reducing the aggravated type to the basic one, avoiding effective imprisonment.