The sisters contacted some of these people via Facebook.
A Pakistani man has been arrested over the murder of three elderly siblings in which two were caught up in an online romance scam.
Spanish police said the 42-year-old man has been identified as Dilawar Hussain Fazal Choudhary.
According to the country’s civil guard, he handed himself in and confessed to the murders.
The bodies of 67-year-old Amelia, Ángeles (74) and José Gutiérrez Ayuso (77) were found at their home after neighbours reported that they had not heard from them for several weeks.
The bodies were found in a state of decomposition, having been partially burned.
The three siblings lived together in Morata de Tajuña, a town of around 8,000 inhabitants southeast of Madrid.
According to the civil guard, the motive appears to be over a debt the siblings had with Choudhary, linked to the sisters’ apparent involvement in a romance scam.
Friends and neighbours detailed how Ángeles and Amelia had been engaged for several years in online relationships with men claiming to be from the United States.
According to the accounts, the women sent £340,000 to a man claiming to be ‘Edward’, who was supposedly in the US military.
The sisters contacted some of these people via Facebook.
José Gutiérrez Ayuso was not involved in the sending of the money.
These online romances caused the siblings’ finances to plummet, prompting the sisters to ask locals for money and approach moneylenders.
They even asked the mayor and priest of Morata de Tajuña for money.
Choudhary was a lodger at their home for several months and got to know the siblings.
He told police that he had given the sisters a high-interest loan, however, they failed to pay it back.
While living in their home, Choudhary attacked Amelia twice, the second time in February 2023 with a hammer.
He received a two-year prison sentence and a restraining order but was released after seven months in September.
On January 18, 2024, Choudhary entered their home.
A friend of the victims, Enrique Velilla said the women’s habits of sending money to their ‘boyfriends’ had caused them to sell a property they owned in Madrid.
Their requests for money had also caused their bank to warn them about a possible scam.
Mr Velilla said: “We told them that it was all a lie, that it was a scam. But they didn’t want to hear the word ‘scam’.
“Ángeles was a teacher and Amelia had an education. They weren’t stupid. They were ordinary people who fell in love.”
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