Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

An Airbnb owner has fallen foul of a scam after letting the property out to a woman for a week who then copied the keys and allegedly illegally rented it out to a family for nine months.

The bizarre incident occurred in the city of Vigo in the north-eastern Spanish region of Galicia after the unnamed owner rented the flat out to a woman for a week on Airbnb.

She then reportedly copied the keys and prepared false documents to hand the lease to a third party, allegedly local businessman Telmo Dominguez, who has previously been found guilty of drug trafficking according to reports.

Dominguez is then suspected of having rented out the flat to a family for 350 EUR a month.

The real owner of the property soon found out and went to the flat but the family said they refused to move out. The owner then went to the authorities.

Nine months later a civil magistrate has now evicted the family and the owner has started a criminal case. The eviction took nine months as the family living in the flat were not considered an illegal occupant but as a third party acting in good faith, allowing them legal protection and slowing down the process.

Local newspaper La Voz de Galicia the woman who originally rented the flat on Airbnb could be charged with usurpation of a property and fraud for leasing a property knowing it was not theirs.

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