Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 10th February 2011
*Property scammers up their game
If you have worked in the property industry for any length of time, you will no doubt have received plenty of enquiries from “buyers” from a certain country in West Africa.
The scams vary in sophistication but the process usually involves a firm promise to buy a property followed by an “unexpected” hitch that requires you to send money to pay for taxes or money transfer charges before the sale can go through.
With so much spam, it can be difficult for the average scammer to grab the attention of the cynical overseas property agent.
Enter Captain Harry….
He’s an officer with the United Nations in Iraq fighting the war against terrorism. He has 16.2 million USD “in boxes and has deposited them with a red cross agent”.
“I want you to see the attached file for picture of me with the box and my colleagues” he explains helpfully.
Unfortunately Harry is unable to pick up the money himself.
“I am a uniformed man and I can not be parading such amount so I need to present someone as the beneficiary”, he says.
All that is required is for you to provide a mobile number and make arrangements to pick up the money so he can invest in your property.
Admittedly, it is a bit of long shot. The portal which provided the lead admitted as much and provided a full refund.
Source: Global edge
User Comments
I had a colleague who actually went to Italy to meet these so called investors. They wanted her to bring them 10% of the project price in cash. And pay they would pay the rest in a different currency.
I warned her if she went with cash, she would not leave alive. Needless to say, she didn't go!
I get these scammers all the time, pain in the a**.
Panayiotis,
FSB Properties Ltd
I completly agree with the above comments, and tired of these people. We get a number of enquries from people wanting to met us in either Milan or Amsterdam to discuss property purchase. Always wanting property over 1 million !! how do these people make money ? What would happen if we were daft enough to go ?
Peter,
A20 Real Estate
We get them every day, they are just too good to be true and as such easy to spot, however I did have a colleague at another agency who was ready to fly to Rome for a meeting with some dodgy Russian guy with a UK mobile who worked for a petrochemicals multi billionaire! You have to hand it to them they get more creative by the minute.
Paul Mitchell,
Iberian Property Group
Those ones are pretty obvious. We get them all the time and don't even bother opening them. Unfortunately the proportion of dodgy enquiries is at an all time high.
Enquiries from portals from people claiming military rank or asking about four totally different properties or asking about properties that no-one ever asks about are all too common. Some portals seem to definitely attract spammers and certain ones seem to deliver 100% spam enquiries. When the portal is expecting ten quid a pop for this rubbish it doesn't endear us to them, especially when some claim that all their leads have been verified with phone calls first, which cannot possibly be true.
The one we haven't fathomed is the one where the buyer's business manager claims the buyer is too busy to come here and wants to meet us in Paris or Milan. Given that no-one buys sight unseen, immediately raising suspicion, what exactly happens if we were daft enough to fly to Milan ?
Cheers
Peter
Peter Ellis,
Croatia Property Services
Now he is called James:
Hello,
I am Capt. James Dennison, an officer of the U.S Army. I am one of the soldiers that were moved to Afghanistan from Iraq and I have some items I will need to ship to you. Can you be trusted?
Kindly view this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7444083.stm and I will explain further when I get a response from you.
Please reply through my private email: jdenjdennison@yahoo.com Thanks
Fred,
van Krimpen
Captain Harry seems to have an identity crisis going on, when he contacted me, he was called "Captain Benny" !?!?
Dan NEWTON,
Dan NEWTON