Bogus property owners scam millions from Hong Kong buyers and banks
Police claim con artists posing as flat owners have duped finance companies and home buyers out of HK$227 million in the last three years
Con artists posing as flat owners have duped finance companies and home buyers out of HK$227 million in the last three years, police said yesterday.
The most common tactic is to use forged land title deeds and identity cards to claims loans. Among the cases, one of the syndicates was accused of cheating two finance companies out of more than HK$51 million this year alone.
“Fake property owners consisted of men and women. Some of them claimed they were from the mainland and presented bogus Chinese passports when applying for mortgage loans,” Chief Inspector Kattie Chan Ching-sum from the commercial crime bureau, said.
Scammers also used fake identification documents to open bank accounts which were used to collect the money if a mortgage application was granted.
“Such frauds were uncovered when finance companies failed to receive repayments one or two months later and contacted genuine property owners and they realised they had been cheated,” Chan said. “The culprits disappeared once they obtained the loan amount.”
The force recorded 52 reports of property fraud involving more than HK$227 million in total since 2013. Just this year, police handled eight cases involving 13 properties and more than HK$80 million.
Investigations showed local finance companies were the main targets in the property fraud.
Nine home buyers were targeted since 2013 and they lost more than HK$8 million in total, police said.
This year, the force received only one such case in which a fake flat seller used a bogus Hong Kong identity card to sell a flat which he did not own and made off with HK$2.9 million. The swindler also used the card to open a bank account to collect the money received.
It is understood the price of the flat the seller offered was well below the market in a bid to attract potential home buyers.
Police said the bogus seller disappeared after receiving the deposit or down payment from the victim.
As scammers usually contacted the victims over phone, Chief Inspector Chan urged finance companies and home buyers to contact genuine flat owners through different channels and make further inquiries.
