Property Rip-offs In Spain

Property Rip-offs In Spain
By Mark Stucklin

These are testing times for Britons with property to sell in Spain. There is a glut of homes on the market, properties are taking longer than ever to sell, and prices in many popular areas appear to be stagnant or falling. Now, to cap it all, vendors are the target of a growing number of scams.

Desperate vendors make soft targets, which is why these scams are flourishing in the present market. The fact that many vendors are now advertising their properties themselves, using websites that bring buyers and sellers together, also facilitates the scams, by making it is easy for swindlers to contact a large number of vendors quickly and cheaply. Whatever else you might think of estate agents in Spain, they do offer their clients some protection from these scams.

There are two types of swindle being tried on vendors at the moment, both of which take advantage of the fact that under-the-table cash payments are still a regular feature of Spanish property transactions. These scams also appear to target people advertising expensive properties, as they are likely to have money.

The most common scam is known as a 'rip deal', a type of swindle that originated in France, but has now spread to Spain.

The genius of this scam lies in tricking vendors into handing over large amounts of cash, in a money-changing operation that hides the sting. It works like this: People posing as buyers contact you pretending to be keen to buy quickly, without viewing, no questions asked. They give you some spiel about having to pay the reserve deposit in cash, normally dollars or Swiss francs, which they argue you can easily change at the bank. And as you'll be changing the deposit anyway, they ask you if you don't mind changing a further amount for them, say 100,000 Euros worth, in return for a hefty commission. The next step is a meeting in a swanky hotel somewhere like Barcelona or Milan to do the deal. You will return home with a bag full of worthless counterfeit notes.

Ian Ainsworth, 37, from Bolton, has been contacted 3 times about a family property in Sotogrande he is advertising for sale. "One time it was a Nigerian calling me on a French mobile, but most recently it was someone from North Africa on an Italian mobile," explains Ainsworth, who lives in San Luca de Barrameda, on the Costa de la Luz. "Every time they want to buy without viewing, which is an obvious sign of trouble, and always ask if you will be willing to accept a large amount in cash. Last time I played along with it for a while, until they asked me to go to Monaco at my own expense."

A rip deal doesn't always involve foreign currency. Sometimes the vendor is asked to change 500-Euro notes into smaller denominations, but once again the 500-Euro notes turn out to be counterfeit. 500-Euro notes are known in Spain as 'Bin Ladens', because when the Euro was first introduced everyone knew they existed but nobody had actually seen one. Now, due to corruption and tax evasion in the Spanish real estate sector, there are more Bin Ladens in Spain than anywhere. They are ideal Marbella-style backhanders and under the table payments.

If the rip deal uses a property transaction as bait to ensnare vendors in a money-changing swindle, at least its victims still have a property at the end of it. Not so with the other scam vendors now need to watch out for, which aims to get property on the cheap, using under-the-table cash payments - known in Spain as 'B' money - that turn out to be counterfeit.

Traditionally, 'B' money is handed over in the notary's office, once the deeds have been signed, and the notary has left the room. But how many people can spot a counterfeit 500-Euro note if the forgery is good? And even if they can, what good will it do? The deeds have already been signed, and calling the police only lands you in trouble with the tax authorities. You used to be able to count on 'B' money payments, but a new breed of swindlers is changing the rules of the game.

Vince Barnes, 42, a professional musician from Newcastle upon Tyne, who has 2 properties for sale on the Costa Blanca, was recently contacted by someone from the Ivory Coast. "After the initial contact, he came down from France to view my properties, and then offered to buy them both. The total price is 480,000 Euros, which he didn't question, but he wanted to pay 160,000 Euros in cash, and only declare 66% of the value on the deeds. The cash would be in 500-Euro notes, but he also explained he had to improve the colour of the notes, and remove some serial numbers, all the while claiming they were perfectly legal. I think he took me for a idiot."

One hapless German expat on the Costa Blanca was recently the victim of a double scam. He handed over 400,000 Euros in return for counterfeit currency, but also signed a legally binding contract, meaning he had to sell his property for 400,000 Euros less than he wanted, or hand over another 800,000 Euros in compensation to the people who had swindled him. He couldn't very well go to the police, as that would land him in trouble with the law for money laundering and tax evasion.

Nobody knows how many people have fallen for these scams, because victims have a powerful incentive to keep quiet. Last year the police in Barcelona announced they had uncovered 16 rip deals, carried out by gangs from Eastern Europe, with a total value of 3 million Euros. One has to assume that the police only know about the tip of the iceberg. And it is my impression that many British owners who are advertising their Spanish properties for sale online are being contacted by swindlers posing as buyers.

If you are trying to sell a property in Spain, or anywhere else in Europe for that matter, how do you continue to attract potential buyers without falling for one of these scams? The answer is simple: make it clear from the outset that you will not accept any cash payments, whatever the currency, and no matter what yarn a buyer might spin about needing to pay with cash. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

This article was written by Mark Stucklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor column in The Sunday Times, and head of Spanish Property Insight

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