Three Brits arrested for ‘tricking frail expat pensioner, 91, into changing will & handing thousands to them’ in Spain

THREE Brits have been arrested on suspicion of tricking a 91-year-old pensioner into handing over thousands while she lived alone in Spain. The vulnerable UK expat was allegedly manipulated by the trio, isolated from her own family and made to change her will to handover thousands. Costa Blanca cops accuse the suspects, two men aged 64 and 67 plus a 62-year-old woman, of installing cameras to control their victim’s movements. They allegedly changed the locks on the pensioner’s doors, took her passport away and blocked family and friends from making any contact. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Other horror tactics police are probing include redirecting the pensioner’s bank and personal correspondence to an external mailbox which they controlled, police say. A twisted allegation also claims the three suspects put up photos of themselves throughout her home in the resort town of Calpe to try to “psychologically condition” her. Civil Guard in Alicante said the act was done to “reinforce a false image of an emotional bond and of these people’s importance in her life”. The suspects also tried to trick the expat into thinking she was signing documents to accept her late husband’s inheritance when they changed her will, detectives allege. Police estimate they plundered around £17,000 from the OAP’s bank accounts by taking her to make regular cash withdrawals. The Civil Guard said the three suspects allegedly formed a criminal group to subject the woman to a “system of isolation, control and manipulation” for months. Most read in The Sun “The victim was selected because of her high purchasing power and because she lived alone in Spain,” a police statement added. “The investigation, carried out by officers from the Guardia Civil Investigation Unit in Calpe as part of Operation Confide, began following a complaint filed by the victim’s children. It comes just days after shameless fraudster Pamela Gwinett was jailed for orchestrating a cruel plan to steal £300,000 from a wealthy, dementia-stricken widow Credit: PA Joan Green, 89, was gradually convinced that her own family neither wanted nor loved her and scammed out of the cash Credit: Supplied “The inquiries uncovered a modus operandi structured in several phases, aimed at progressively controlling the victim and obtaining both her money and access to her assets.” They added that the OAP’s loved ones started to worry after several large withdrawals of cash were made from her bank account. The changing of the victim’s will has now been reversed back to how it was. All three suspects are being investigated on suspicion of aggravated fraud, coercion, disclosure of secrets, harassment and membership of a criminal group. One police source said: “They managed to get close to her initially by offering to care for her. That’s how they got their foothold.” A restraining and no-contact order related to the victim has also been imposed. In a repeat of the Pamela Gwinnett case, the woman’s concerned family contacted police who started investigating the Brits arrested, who have been accused of acting as part of a criminal gang. It comes just days after shameless fraudster Pamela Gwinett was jailed for orchestrating a cruel plan to steal £300,000 from a wealthy, dementia-stricken widow. Pamela Gwinnett, 63, befriended Joan Green, 89, and gradually convinced the vulnerable pensioner that her own family neither wanted nor loved her. She then used the money to pay off her own mortgage, Botox treatments, lavish meals and a £22,500 car. Dubbed “The Black Widow of Tenerife”, Gwinnett was jailed for six years and two months after being extradited from Tenerife, where she had fled following her arrest in 2025.