Spanish police alert: ‘Lost’ passport scam targets 2026 migrant regularisation

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More than 300 Algerian nationals queue outside the Alicante consulate efe Scam Spanish police alert: ‘Lost’ passport scam targets 2026 migrant regularisation

National Police investigate 60% surge in document loss reports as undocumented immigrants attempt to hack the residency cut-off date

Borja Méndez

Thursday, 12 February 2026, 16:26

Spain’s National Police have issued a nationwide alert following a "massive increase" in fraudulent reports of lost or stolen passports.

Investigators believe undocumented immigrants are staging the losses to create a paper trail proving their presence in Spain before the mandatory residency cut-off date.

The alert, issued by the General Commissariat for Foreigners and Border Control (CGEF), warns that the scam is a direct response to the government’s 27 January announcement of an extraordinary regularisation process.

Under the new decree, migrants who can prove they were living in Spain before 31 December 2025 are eligible for legal status.

Now police have become aware of a "significant increase in reports".

"A preliminary analysis of this occurrence compares the period from 15 January to 6 February 2025 with the same period in 2026," they state.

This type of reporting has seen an increase of approximately 60 per cent. In addition, officers have been able to identify the nationalities that are most frequently reporting such losses or thefts to the police.

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One of the National Police offices handling immigration. ABC

The highest report rate has been among Pakistanis with an increase of 866.67 per cent, followed by Algerians (356.35 per cent), then in third place Moroccans (114 per cent) and last place Colombians at 35 per cent. This situation led to the opening of a full investigation and police experts have now reached their conclusions.

"The information available to the CGEF suggests that, within the bounds of this exceptional regularisation process, this practice could be used as a means of accrediting presence on Spanish territory during the period covered by this process", states the official report.

Full identification

The actions of some of the police staff conducting a complete ID check of the foreigners reporting loss or theft made it possible to verify that, in many cases, there were issues.

For instance, criminal and/or police records in Spain and/or in other countries, identities other than the one reported as lost or stolen and administrative resolutions on foreigners that were still in effect.

With all this information, the investigators recommend that, when an undocumented foreign citizen goes to report a loss or theft to the police, they should be fully identified and their status in Spain should be thoroughly checked.

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The reason for this spate of reportsº ABC

The problems caused by the statewide announcement of the mass regularisation of immigrants have been raised by police unions. One such union is Jupol, which has complained that this plan "demonstrates the cause and effect that we have been warning about since the announcement of the extraordinary regularisation of foreigners".

"It is unacceptable that the National Police is being used as a tool to facilitate regularisation processes through alleged and fraudulent reports, undermining the police function and further overwhelming already strained immigration teams and staffing levels," states Jupol.

In this regard, they condemn that police officers "are involved in situations that could be a cover for administrative fraud". In conclusion, the union states that "We demand clear and forceful measures to protect both the legality and professionalism of the National Police. We also flag up the legal insecurity that Jupol also denounced before the announcement of this extraordinary process."