Several recent court cases in Spain are highlighting a different kind of financial risk facing older people: abuse committed by someone who already has access to their home, mobile phone, bank cards or financial information.

One of the latest cases was reported in San Sebastián, where a home-care worker was sentenced after admitting that she used the phone of the man she cared for to send herself €7,000 through 17 Bizum transactions without his knowledge. The transfers took place between January and March 2025.

The case has renewed attention on how trust and everyday access to technology can make financial abuse particularly difficult to detect.

€7,000 Sent Through 17 Bizum Payments

According to the case reported by La Voz de Ibiza, the woman used the victim's own mobile phone to make 17 Bizum transfers to herself.

The transactions totalled €7,000 and were carried out without the man's knowledge or consent. She was sentenced to 21 months and one day in prison, although the prison sentence was suspended for two years on condition that she did not reoffend and repaid the money through 14 monthly payments of €500.

The case illustrates an important point: the danger does not necessarily come from a sophisticated cyberattack. In some situations, access to an unlocked phone and financial applications can be enough.

Bizum Is Not the Only Method

Other cases show that this type of abuse is not limited to mobile payment services.

In Salamanca, a domestic worker was sentenced to two years in prison after taking €10,200 from an elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease. She obtained the woman's bank-card PIN and subsequently made 34 cash withdrawals of €300.

In Pamplona, another domestic worker was sentenced to two years for fraud totalling €5,294.13, including purchases made through the trust that businesses had placed in her employer.

The cases involve different methods, but the common factor is access created by a relationship of trust.

A €17,000 Investigation Remains Open

Not every case has resulted in a conviction.

In Barcelona, Mossos d'Esquadra detained a nursing-home worker in February 2026 in connection with a suspected fraud involving the account of an 80-year-old resident who had died.

Investigators detected two transactions of €10,000 and €7,000, as well as several unsuccessful attempts to make Bizum operations. The investigation remains open, meaning the individual involved has not been convicted in that case.

Older Cases Show the Problem Is Not New

The issue also predates Bizum.

In 2021, the Policía Nacional detained a woman accused of defrauding more than €40,000 from a 91-year-old man. She had been paid to help him learn how to use his mobile phone, giving her access to the device and information used for online banking transactions.

The repeated appearance of mobile phones, PIN codes and online banking highlights how financial abuse can occur when somebody is given extensive access to a person's everyday technology.

The Real Vulnerability Is Access

The cases examined by La Voz de Ibiza point to a broader issue.

Bizum itself is not the underlying cause. The common vulnerability is privileged access to another person's financial life.

A trusted person may know a PIN, have access to an unlocked phone, see verification codes, help manage purchases or routinely enter the person's home.

That access can make unauthorised transactions harder to notice, particularly when small movements are spread across several weeks or months.

Fraud Can Also Happen Through Ordinary Scams

Separate from cases involving trusted carers, INCIBE has repeatedly warned about scams that manipulate users into authorising Bizum payments themselves.

One known tactic involves a fraudster appearing to send money but instead sending a request for payment. If the victim accepts it without reading the details carefully, the money is transferred out of their account rather than into it. INCIBE notes that Bizum payments made in this way cannot simply be reversed.

More recent cases have also involved criminals impersonating banks or relatives and persuading victims to approve fraudulent operations.

A Warning About Trust and Technology

The cases serve as a reminder that protecting older people's finances is not only about recognising suspicious emails or scam messages.

It can also mean controlling who has access to a mobile phone, bank card, PIN, banking application and verification codes.

For families and carers, maintaining clear boundaries around financial access can make it easier to identify unusual activity before losses become substantial.

The figures from the cases are a reminder of how quickly the damage can accumulate: €7,000 through Bizum, €10,200 in cash withdrawals, more than €5,294 in purchases and €17,000 in transactions currently under investigation.

The Warning Behind the Headlines

The broader lesson is that financial abuse does not always look like a conventional cybercrime.

Sometimes, the person carrying out the transaction is someone the victim already knows and trusts.

That makes vigilance more difficult, but also makes basic safeguards particularly important: keeping PINs private, protecting unlocked phones, reviewing bank movements regularly and avoiding giving unnecessary access to financial applications.

As the latest Spanish cases show, when trust provides access to the technology that controls a person's money, thousands of euros can disappear before the victim even realises what has happened.