Two men have been arrested in northeastern Spain on suspicion of defrauding a taxi driver of approximately five thousand euros after convincing him to drive them from Barcelona to Lisbon and then fleeing without paying.

The incident began in October 2025 when the pair hailed a taxi in Barcelona and persuaded the driver to undertake the roughly twelve-hour, twelve-hundred-kilometer journey to the Portuguese capital by claiming they had lost their bank cards and promising to pay by bank transfer during the ride.

Along the route, they showed the driver screen captures purporting to be digital transfer confirmations, prompting the driver not only to absorb the cost of fuel and tolls but also to cover their food expenses.

Upon arrival in Lisbon, the two men exited the taxi under the pretense of withdrawing cash and did not return, leaving the driver to discover later that no funds had been transferred to his account.

After calculating the cumulative fare, ancillary expenses and his lone return to Barcelona, the driver reported an overall financial loss of around five thousand euros and filed a detailed complaint with the regional Mossos d’Esquadra police, providing descriptions of the suspects and copies of the falsified transfer screenshots.

The information helped investigators initiate a targeted search.

On January 13, Catalan police located and arrested the two men, aged twenty-three and fifty, in the town of Hostalric as they were attempting a similar ruse against another taxi driver.

They had secured a new taxi booking to travel from Hostalric toward Perpignan in southern France, again claiming to lack payment and indicating they would remit funds by transfer.

The police operation intercepted the scheme before a second financial loss could occur.

Both suspects have been placed at the disposal of the examining court in Santa Coloma de Farners on charges of fraud.

Authorities noted that the older suspect has a prior record for similar offences committed in Valencia and Alicante.