It was between 2018 and 2020 that people around the county and in some cases outside the county received information about a new kind of investment at a car company in the Värnamo region.

It involved investing SEK 300,000 to import cars and then getting the money back within a few months plus a profit of around SEK 50,000.

- I did my research, checked that it was a real company that had made a profit in the last year, says one of the victims to SVT Jönköping.

"Just sat and cried"

He and his wife took out a bank loan of SEK 900,000 and sold their apartment in the belief that they would quickly get the money back and could invest in a house in Jönköping that they had always wanted.

Instead, it turned out that they neither got back the money for the loans nor the promised earnings.

- We didn't think it was true, that someone could cheat you of such huge sums.

Me and my wife just sat and cried, he says.

Instead, they had to buy a house in another municipality in the county and used all their savings to pay off the loans.

They still have around half a million kroner left to pay, which is expected to take twelve years.

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In the clip, reporter Emma Johansson explains how the fraudster managed to cheat more than 40 people out of around SEK 24 million.

Photo: Jonas Tubbin and Truls Wallin/SVT

Four men were convicted

Two men were sentenced for serious fraud to prison for two and a half years and one year and three months, respectively.

Two more men were sentenced to daily fines for economic money laundering offences.

One of them is himself affected by the fraud.

- I don't think we will ever get the money back.

Even if one of the men was sentenced to pay back, he already has a debt of millions with the Crown Bailiff.

In the clip you will hear more about the family's history.