Boss registered an employee as self-employed and got public aid of more than 12,700 euros

December 17, 2025 3 Mins Read

The National Police have arrested a 54-year-old entrepreneur in Benidorm for allegedly committing multiple crimes relating to the illegal collecting of public benefits. This happened after the woman signed up an employee as self-employed without the employee’s knowledge and then asked for different types of financial help in her name. In the end, these advantages were deposited into the employer’s bank account in her name. The inquiry puts the amount of the scam at €12,721.80.

The victim, a young woman who got her first job at 19, thought she was working as an apprentice at the company. The woman who was arrested, on the other hand, used her digital signature to sign up as a self-employed worker online and ask for several benefits, including extra payments relating to the COVID-19 outbreak.

She assumed she had been employed as a trainee

The occurrences happened in February 2019, when the person who complained started working at a place in Benidorm. She said that she never got a copy of her contract, payslips, or payment receipts, and that most of her pay was in cash. She stopped working in September 2022.

In August, the young woman found out about the problem when she got a letter saying she had been given a cessation of activity benefit that she had never asked for. When she found out about this, she started looking into her administrative position. She discovered that numerous advantages had been executed in her name utilising her digital signature.

Six aid applications were sent in without permission

SUMA and the Tax Agency’s investigations showed that six grant applications worth more than €15,000 were submitted between 2020 and 2021. The complainant did not own the bank account where all of this money was put. Some of the applications had been processed by a consulting firm in Benidorm that had already worked on her supposed employment contract.

The victim then remembered that when she started working there, the boss requested for both her digital signature and her Social Security number. It was later said that this information was exploited for fake transactions.

Signed up as a fake self-employed person

The police inquiry found that the worker had been registered as self-employed for three and a half years without her knowledge or consent. This approach, called “false self-employment,” let the employer pay less in social security taxes and not have to do any work.

One of the perks was a €300 stipend from the Valencian regional government. This grant was meant for self-employed people who were getting extra help because their businesses were slow because of COVID-19. All transfers went to a bank account that was connected to the firm. The manager, who is now in jail, was the owner of the company.

Holding someone and blocking their money

Based on the evidence they found, officials from the Judicial Police of the Benidorm Police Station arrested the entrepreneur at her shop, which was open to the public. At the same time, the bank was told to freeze the money that had been stolen.

The Benidorm investigative courts have received the case file. This was done with the suspect, who is thought to have committed fraud, grant fraud, document forgery, and identity theft.The National Police have arrested a 54-year-old entrepreneur in Benidorm for allegedly committing multiple crimes relating to the illegal collecting of public benefits. This happened after she signed up an employee as self-employed without the employee’s knowledge and then asked for different types of financial help in her name. In the end, these advantages were put into a bank account in her name. The inquiry puts the amount of the scam at €12,721.80.

The Benidorm investigating courts have received the case file. This was done with the suspect, who is thought to have committed fraud, grant fraud, document forgery, and identity theft.