The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested five men and three women on Tuesday suspected of qualified fraud involving several million euros, for the fraudulent sale of uninhabited properties belonging to foreign citizens with a “Gold Visa”, it was announced this Wednesday, March 18.
The Golden Key operation was carried out by the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Directorate of the PJ, following complaints presented in July 2025, by foreign citizens, with Residence Permits for Investment in Portugal (ARI), aka, “Gold Visas”, the PJ said in a statement.
According to the complaints, the houses acquired by those foreign citizens were unoccupied and were allegedly sold in their name and without their consent.
In addition to qualified fraud, there is also strong evidence of money laundering, criminal association, forgery or forgery of documents, among others, and a man was also arrested in flagrante delicto, for possession of prohibited weapons.
According to the PJ, which carried out ten home and non-domestic searches in the Lisbon area, the sales contracts for those properties were concluded using false documentation, such as identity documents, powers of attorney and proof of payment.
The documentation was then presented to lawyers and solicitors, who authenticated it and submitted it electronically to the Land Registry, transferring ownership of the properties to the names of the buyers, which correspond to false and even non-existent identities.
Already in possession of the properties and the property registration title, the suspects, aged between 26 and 62, changed the locks and sold the properties at prices below real and market values, using investors or real estate agents, who purchased them or served as intermediaries.
The amounts collected were then subject to a “money laundering” scheme, through the purchase and subsequent sale of other goods, such as luxury vehicles, or through successive and fractional transfers between bank accounts.
The PJ said that it has so far recovered several properties and seized “considerable advantages obtained from the fraudulent sale of them, including bank balances of around 1.5 million euros”.
The detainees will be present for the first judicial interrogation, for the application of coercive measures.
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