Two arrested in Ibiza over ‘Game of Thrones’ phone scam

Police have arrested two men in Ibiza for tricking people into calling a premium-rate telephone number to audition for television show Game of Thrones, whose fifth series is due to be partly filmed in Seville.

The fraudsters may have made as much as €100,000 in one week, investigators believe.

The suspects created a website imitating the look and feel of the real HBO-produced series that offered a phone number allegedly providing information about how to audition to be an extra in the series.

Callers were placed on hold for at least six minutes, for which they paid over €10

The Spanish production company in charge of the auditions had offered an e-mail address (castingjuegodetronos@gmail.com) where people could apply for free. The criminals created a fake website using the domain name www.castingjuegodetronos.com.

Callers were placed on hold for at least six minutes, for which they paid over €10.

Schemes of this nature are frequent, authorities say. According to a study by the National Institute of Communication Technologies, 21.5 percent of cellphone users in Spain have been the target of a fraud attempt.