GNR detains Henrique Paulo in Arcos de Valdevez over alleged builder scam

James H. Amos • August 18, 2026 05:16

He lured victims with low-cost quotes, then moved to other areas using the deposit money.

Posing as a licensed contractor, he offered bargain budgets to persuade people to hand over an advance payment. Once the money was in his pocket, he would vanish without starting-or without finishing-the work, leaving victims with no job completed and no cash returned. The 52-year-old man, wanted since 2018 for involvement in dozens of fraud cases nationwide and considered to be evading justice, has now been detained by the GNR in Arcos de Valdevez. He has since been remanded in custody.

For years, Henrique Paulo, originally from Santa Cruz do Bispo in Matosinhos, has been suspected of living solely from this type of fraud and of reshaping his routine to avoid capture. He kept around 20 different addresses and regularly changed cars-never registering them in his own name-in an effort to stay off the authorities’ radar. Even so, on 9 July he was arrested following intensive investigative work and surveillance operations carried out over the past six months by the Criminal Investigation Unit (NIC) of Arcos de Valdevez.

At least 50 cases

According to a source within the GNR in Viana do Castelo, he is a suspect in at least ten cases and has also been flagged in more than five dozen inquiries across the country for the same type of offence. Investigators believe he committed several crimes in the Alto Minho region before he was detained.

The method was consistently the same. He posted adverts on Fixando.pt-a website used to hire specialists for a range of services-as well as on Facebook. He presented himself as a builder, then contacted potential victims, agreed the job, requested an upfront payment of around half the total cost, and staged the start of the work. “He asked for a deposit, pretended to do a small amount of work and after one or two days he disappeared,” captain Rui Bento, commander of the GNR Territorial Detachment in Arcos de Valdevez, told JN, stressing that his “frauds and attempted frauds were not confined to the Alto Minho area”, where he was ultimately caught.

Left an elderly woman without a roof

According to the same officer, the man-who was “on the run from justice” and whose last officially known address was in Monção-left a trail of “significant social outrage” across the country. In one case in the Minho region, the suspect demanded €4,000 from an elderly woman to replace her roof. After beginning the job, he disappeared with the money, leaving the house already stripped of its roof.

Alongside formal complaints, anger was also evident “on social media”, which helped the authorities track his movements and eventually detain him. He was taken to the Ponte da Barca Court and remanded in custody at Braga Prison.

According to other judicial sources, for “contracted” jobs the fraudster would request deposits ranging between “€300 and €5000”. The authorities believe there are additional victims who never filed a complaint, especially where the sums involved were small and linked to minor jobs. As far as we have established, both the PSP and the GNR believe he may have targeted around 100 victims.

Details

Elderly and defenceless people

According to information gathered by JN, the fraudster sought to deceive older people as well as others who were particularly vulnerable. In one instance, he even accompanied a victim to the bank to collect the advance payment in cash.

Suspect with high mobility

In addition to the inquiries being handled by the GNR, the man is also the subject of cases being developed by PSP officers. The defendant moved around extensively and stayed only briefly in any one area to reduce the chances of being caught.

Fugitive

He had been declared contumacious in ten cases
According to the GNR in Viana do Castelo, before his detention Henrique Paulo’s whereabouts were unknown and he “had already been declared contumacious in at least ten separate cases”. As part of an investigation into fraud and theft that had been running for around six months, NIC officers in Arcos de Valdevez were able to locate and detain the suspect, executing arrest warrants. The operation also led to the seizure of a television, a laptop, four mobile phones, eight SIM cards and €960, as well as various documents.