The gang of six based in Fuengirola on Spain’s Costa del Sol made at least €50,000 euros (£44,000) after persuading some 180 men to pay a joining fee to register as gigolos.
The elaborate scam lured men in with advertisements in the national media promising vast returns for wining and dining lonely women.
Men wanting to follow in the footsteps of ‘Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo’ - a 1999 comedy about a fishtank cleaner who goes into business as a male prostitute - were then asked to pay joining fees of between €200 and €1,000 euros (£175 and £875) to be put on the books of “reputable agencies”.
But the online agencies were hoaxes and the clients never materialised.
Police said the masterminds behind the scam were a husband and wife and her older brother. Three others were arrested for opening bank accounts used to transfer money from the victims for five per cent of the profits.
None of those arrested nor those that fell for the scam have been named.
Police said they uncovered the network after receiving complaints from different men who said they had never received any work as a result of signing up with the agencies.
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