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.

Source: SCMP