If your account was emptied after a call that seemed to come from your bank, you paid for a purchase that never arrived, you invested through a platform that vanished with your money or you are being blackmailed over some photos, you have found a cyber fraud lawyer in A Coruña. The same applies if you are the one under investigation. Perseus & RC Abogados handles online scams and cybercrime as its main speciality, and the practice is led by Luis Jurado Cano, A Coruña Bar no. 6317, who has run digital investigation workshops since 2015 and was consulted by La Voz de Galicia in 2025 on cryptocurrency scams. We work in English and Spanish.
What can be achieved if you have been scammed
There are two routes and it almost always pays to take both at once.
Claim against the bank. When you did not authorise the transaction, article 45 of Royal Decree-Law 19/2018 on payment services obliges the bank to refund the amount immediately, and at the latest by the end of the business day after you notify it. If the bank refuses on the grounds that you were negligent, it is the bank that has to prove it, under article 44 of the same law. In practice this is the route that returns the most money, and most victims either do not know about it or give up after the first refusal. We claim before the bank’s customer service, the Bank of Spain and, if need be, the courts.
Report and prosecute. A well-prepared criminal complaint makes it possible to have the destination accounts frozen, their holders and the phones and IP addresses used identified, and to appear as private prosecutor to claim the money within the criminal proceedings. How the evidence is presented on day one decides whether the court can do anything or not.
We explain it step by step in how to recover the money from an online scam and what the bank is obliged to refund.
The scams we handle
- Bank impersonation. Phishing by email, smishing by text and vishing by phone, with the Abanca text message or the call from the supposed security department asking you to move your money to a safe account.
- Bizum, cards and unauthorised transfers. Charges you did not make and transfers made under deception.
- Buying and selling online. Wallapop, Vinted, Amazon, PayPal, fake online shops, rental listings and holiday bookings that do not exist.
- Investment and cryptocurrency. Fake investment platforms, brokers asking for an initial deposit, cryptocurrency scams on WhatsApp or Telegram and the romance scam that ends up asking for money.
- Impersonation of people. The call from a child with a broken phone, the voice cloned with artificial intelligence and the email from the boss ordering an urgent transfer from the company.
- Sextortion and the sharing of intimate images. Blackmail over photos or videos and publication without consent.
- Access to accounts and devices. Hacked WhatsApp, Instagram, email or online banking, ransomware and computer sabotage.
- Cyberstalking, insults and defamation on social media and online identity theft.
If you are the one under investigation
A cybercrime always has two sides and we defend both. You may be under investigation because you received the proceeds of a scam in your account and forwarded them, because you sold something online and the buyer reported you, because you accessed someone else’s account or because files you should not have turned up on your device. In all of those cases the rule is the same. Do not make a statement without a lawyer, do not delete anything and do not hand over your phone or your passwords until a lawyer has seen the request. The electronic evidence pointing at you can be analysed, put in context and challenged, and in this firm that is done in-house. You can read what is at stake when you are investigated for a cybercrime.
Electronic evidence, handled in-house
In these matters the case is won or lost on the evidence. Access logs, handset geolocation, data from operators and platforms, forensic analysis of devices, time-stamped screenshots. We know how it is obtained, how it is preserved so that it holds up in court and where to challenge it when the other side produces it. Luis Jurado explains it in mobile phone positioning and in why fingerprints are not passwords, two articles originally published in Legal Today.
How we work
- Preserve the evidence. We tell you what to keep and how, before anything is lost. Screenshots, emails, account movements, phone numbers, wallet addresses.
- Claim against the bank the same day when there is an unauthorised transaction, with the letter the law requires rather than a branch form.
- Criminal complaint or private prosecution prepared so that the court can act, with the specific investigative steps that need to be requested.
- Expert reports when needed, with IT experts who explain in court what the digital trail says.
- Representation throughout the proceedings, criminal and civil, until you are paid.
Who handles your case
Luis Jurado Cano, lawyer, A Coruña Bar no. 6317. Speaker at INCIBE’s CyberCamp 2015 and at SECAdmin 2018 on digital investigation, member of the editorial board of a scientific journal of the University of Seville and author of articles on electronic evidence in Legal Today. He handles the matters himself, and the civil claims against banks are worked on with Ana Reza, managing partner for the civil practice.
Where we are
Rúa Torreiro 13, 3.º C, 15001 A Coruña. Telephone +34 677 841 007. We work at the office, by phone and by video call, for A Coruña, the whole of Galicia and the rest of Spain, because in these matters the first week weighs more than the distance. Fraud that is not computer-based, investment, rental, partner or loan fraud, is covered under fraud lawyer in A Coruña. See also our services in criminal law and debt recovery.
Related articles
- Online scam, how to recover the money and what the bank is obliged to refund
- Does the bank have to give my money back after a phishing scam?
- Scams impersonating your bank by text or phone call
- The Abanca text message saying your account is blocked
- They call from Abanca and ask you to move your money
- The Correos text asking you to pay a fee for a parcel
- Your child calls asking for money and it is not your child, voice cloning scams
- Can you get your money back after a cryptocurrency scam?
- Scammed while shopping online, what you can get back
- Scammed paying with PayPal, when it protects you and when it will not
- Vinted scam, what buyer protection covers
- They threaten to share your intimate photos or videos, sextortion
- Someone shared your intimate images without permission
- Cyberstalking, what legal protection you can obtain
- Why electronic evidence decides cases
- Under investigation for a cybercrime, what is at stake
Frequently asked questions
Does the bank have to refund the money from an online scam?
If you did not authorise the transaction, the rule is that it does. Article 45 of Royal Decree-Law 19/2018 obliges the bank to refund an unauthorised transaction immediately and at the latest by the end of the following business day, unless it has reasonable grounds to suspect fraud and reports them to the Bank of Spain. Article 44 of the same law places the burden of proof on the bank, which must show that the transaction was properly authenticated and that you acted fraudulently or with gross negligence. Having typed a code into a fake website is not, on its own, enough to call you negligent.
I have just become the victim of a cybercrime. What should I do?
Do not delete or change anything. The messages, emails, screenshots, bank transactions and devices are all evidence. Keep everything exactly as it is, note down dates and web addresses, and do not reply to or pay the scammer. Save screenshots with the date visible and the other party's details, username, account, wallet or phone number. With that material we prepare the claim against the bank and the criminal complaint so the evidence holds up from the very first moment.
Is it worth reporting a scam of 200 or 300 euros?
Yes. Below 400 euros, fraud is punished as a minor offence with a fine, under article 248 of the Criminal Code, but the complaint serves other purposes. It opens the door to the claim against the bank, allows the destination account to be frozen and adds your case to those of other victims of the same fraudster, which is how these networks end up being identified. With screenshots, receipts and the other party's details it can be prepared in an afternoon.
I was scammed with cryptocurrencies. Can I get my money back?
In quite a few cases yes, above all when you act quickly and the money left from a Spanish bank account, which is where it can be traced and frozen. Not every scam is the same, and the outcome depends on where the money went and how much time has passed. Tell us what happened and we will give you an honest read on how much room there really is in your situation.
I received a transfer and was asked to forward it. Can I be charged?
Yes, and it happens every week. Anyone who lends their account to move the proceeds of a scam, even without knowing where the money came from, can be investigated for money laundering, which in its negligent form carries six months to two years in prison under article 301.3 of the Criminal Code. The defence consists in showing that you were deceived too and in producing the full conversation and the account movements as soon as possible. Do not delete anything and do not make a statement without a lawyer.
Is there any point reporting it if the scammer is in another country?
There is. The money almost always passes through a Spanish account before leaving, and that is where it can be frozen and the account holder identified. Besides, the claim against the bank does not depend on where the scammer is. What we will not tell you is that the money is always recovered. We will tell you what room there is in your case after seeing the account movements.
What evidence is valid in a cybercrime case?
Server records and logs, screenshots with a time stamp or certified before a notary, forensic analysis of devices, expert IT reports, traffic and location data supplied by the operators under a court order, and the data held by platforms and companies. What matters is the chain of custody. How the evidence is obtained and preserved determines whether it can be admitted.
Is it a crime to share intimate images or videos without consent?
Yes. Sharing intimate images or recordings that were obtained with consent but then passed on without it is an offence against privacy under article 197.7 of the Criminal Code, carrying prison sentences and fines that increase when the victim is a partner or former partner, a minor or a person with a disability. If you are the victim, we act urgently to have the content taken down and to bring the prosecution.
How long does a cybercrime case take?
It varies a great deal depending on the technical complexity, the number of people under investigation and whether help is needed from platforms or from other countries. As a rough guide, these cases usually run between several months and two years. The claim against the bank runs separately and is usually resolved much sooner. At each stage we explain where the proceedings stand and what timeframes you can expect.
Do you offer urgent assistance if I have been arrested or summoned?
Yes. In an arrest or a summons as a suspect the first few hours are decisive. Do not make any statement without a lawyer. We meet with you, review what has been done so far and set the strategy before any statement is given.