Foreign Property Investment

How the scam works:

You are interested in buying a property or a land in a different country and start looking for places. Finding a great investment opportunity to build a house, let's say, in Bulgaria, you even come across an established developer. Upon researching his portfolio, everything looks good and trustworthy, because it genuinely is.

Scam Detectors Most Trusted Websites in Online Security

Guard.io (100): Protect your digital world on any device – Guardio stops scams and phishing in their tracks.
Incogni.com (100): Delete your personal data from the internet and protect against scams and identity theft.
ExpressVPN (100) Stay secure and anonymous online - Best VPN Out There

This is how the fraud works: the scammers start by being intermediaries (between clients and developers) and find great investments for those interested. They find the first couple of buyers, and they get them, along with the developer, to sign a purchase agreement. Once they have brought two or three clients to the developer, the scammers get the developer's trust. Then, they will start advertising themselves as the seller, removing the developer's name from the contract and inserting theirs.

The new buyer, who could be you, finds the developer's name online, looks at their work and reputation, and decides to contact them. Since the scammers are pretending to be the sellers, they will get the victims to pay and – after the money is wired – they stop any contact with the buyer. After calling and e-mailing several times, the victims might find the real developer – who, of course, claims didn't get any money and is equally a victim.

How to avoid:

Buying property abroad is fraught with this sort of scam and fraud. Unless you have an excellent knowledge of the foreign country, speak its language and can go there and talk to the developer, it might be better just to stay home.

Any land and property investment should not be made without due diligence. Talk to an investment advisor, but only after you do your diligence about him/her, too. There are many legitimate property investment companies out there, so if you match the right advisor with the right organization, you could score big. However, remember that like any other investment, profit is not guaranteed 100%. Last, but not least, don't be afraid to buy Investing for Dummies from a bookstore near you.

How to protect yourself more:

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodical emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.

Related Articles and Pages:

Full List of Real Estate Tips and Scam

Change My Address/Free Change of Address Scam

Real Estate Leads/ Mortgage Lead Generation Scam

Dual Flush Toilet/ Low Flow Toilet Rebate Scam

Mortgage Loan Modification Via HAMP/HARP Programs

How To Stop Foreclosure Scam

Solar Panels For Your Home Scam

Water Heater Repair Emergency Plumbing Service

Fake Landlord Renting Property

Cheap Home Security Systems Scam

Verify Another website