Spanish couple arrested after allegedly exaggerating daughter's illness for financial gain

A Facebook page dedicated to Nadia Nerea has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Nadia Nerea Trichothiodystrophia Association Facebook

A Spanish couple who claimed their daughter was suffering from an obscure and debilitating disease have been arrested for fraud after allegedly exaggerating their claims.

The Catalonian couple had set up the Nadia Nerea Trichothiodystrophia Association on Facebook and conducted years of fundraising for their young daughter, Nadia.

The 11-year-old is suffering from a disease that can range from very mild to debilitating. Photo / Facebook

They claimed she needed urged medical attention including operations and travel for the disease which can range from mild symptoms such as brittle hair to more severe cases of intellectual disability and delayed development.

Pictures on the page show the smiling young girl with family members and marking milestones in her life.

It attracted plenty of attention on social media with and Spanish television and it's thought the couple received in excess of $200,000 over eight years from thousands of different donors.

However on Sunday Nadia's father Fernando Blanco admitted to a television station the couple had exaggerated their claims in order to ramp up interest in the case. He said the couple would pay it all back.

Spanish media reports Mr Blanco had previously been jailed for fraud for four years, after stealing $170,000 from a company he used to work for. Photo / Facebook

The post was quickly flooded with comments from people outraged about being duped. Many said the problem was not the money but the lying that had done the most damage. Others slammed him for "taking advantage of the good faith of the people" in addition to taking advantage of his daughter.

Spanish media reports Mr Blanco had previously been jailed for fraud for four years, after stealing $170,000 from a company he used to work for.

One person who knew him at the time described him as a "manipulative" man with "tremendous inventiveness".

A policeman speaking on condition of anonymity told Associated Press the couple's home in northeastern Catalonia was also searched.

The Nadia Nerea website has crashed under the amount of traffic the story has generated.