The Direct Property Group has aroused my curiosity. Their eye-catching advertisements for overseas property appear on BBC TV channels, in newspapers and in magazines. Some are for bargain USA homes, others for upmarket pads in Europe. They look for all the world like an estate agent, but a search of their website,
www.directpropertygroup.com for details of the glamorous properties on offer in places like London, France and the USA yields little. It says, for example: Notting Hill, W11, two bedrooms, pounds 1,150,000, (HK$14.4 million) with no address. You can find handsome interior shots and smart exteriors, but all of unidentified buildings. On the USA site, no listings appear at all. At the bottom of the homepage a disclaimer states: