Briton busted over fraudulent children's literary contest

Authorities in Málaga have arrested a British national who was accused of defrauding more than 9,100 people with the promise of publishing books written by their children.

The suspect, only identified by his initials, I. R. W., allegedly received 160,000 euros from the scheme, the Civil Guard said on Friday. The arrest took place on Sunday when the suspect returned to Spain from Britain.

I. R. W. reportedly offered to publish the works, which were to be part of a literary contest, for the families in exchange for a fee. He set up a website, jovenesescritores.com, and collected money from people all over Spain with the promise that the stories would be published in book form. The website was taken down on Monday.

The Civil Guard said that the suspect had accomplices working with him in Britain, where other people were also victims of the scheme.

More than 1,000 people in Spain had filed complaints about the company.

Authorities found that the suspect had expensive tastes, purchasing homes and luxury cars in the Costa del Sol. He had returned to Spain to purchase a home in Marbella when authorities arrested him at Málaga airport.

Investigators said the suspect was planning on expanding his scheme to Germany, France and Italy, and had registered similar websites in those countries. He also wanted to attract new adult writers, the Civil Guard said.