NEW SCAM

Letters

Contributor / 2009-05-28 12:44:19

A resident in La Siesta near Torrevieja has his house up for sale and about 8pm on Tuesday night 3 Africans arrived saying that they might be interested in buying his house.

He allowed them in and they said that before they could decide whether the house was suitable they would check with their wives and come back later.

They did come back at about 10pm and said they would pay cash, with no banks involved. One of the three said they needed to make the purchase because he was returning to Johannesburg next day. He produced a box loaded with euro notes and said that they could be checked for authenticity by using an ultra violet torch he had with him.

He took out what looked like a thick wad of €500 notes and proceeded to show the top one and the bottom one under the UV light which as far as could be seen indicated that they were genuine, however, the others were not checked. The owner told them that he was not happy to make a sale without banks and lawyers being involved, and so they left.

Although the householder thought notes may have all been genuine the whole scenario was very dubious and so he contacted NHW so that others may be made aware of this possible scam.

This is a scam where thieves will look to prey on people urgently needing to sell their property, please do as this gentleman did and make sure banks and lawyers and a translator are involved in any sale of property.

Should you be approached by anyone trying to pull what you suspect is a scam firmly and politely say no and inform the police and Neighbourhood Watch of the details, especially description of the person(s) involved and any vehicle details you can note down.

Ray Marsh
NHW Press Officer

Thanks Ray,
A good warning to readers and sound advice to use the professionals when dealing with major issues such as house sales etc, especially when living in a foreign country. ED.

Tags: Neighbourhood Watch, Scam, Property Sales