Complex real estate scam that ‘stole’ $1.2 million from private investors with fake power of attorney | News from Catalonia

Mossos d’Esquadra dismantled a complex real estate fraud scheme. Its leader is 38 years old and an “experienced criminal” who has researched everything well. The main detainees used fake powers of attorney to commit fraud, and the group received loans by guaranteeing homes that did not belong to them. This man, who had a similar criminal history, controlled every step of the way to ensure the deception was successful. He went to notaries where false powers of attorney were signed and took part in negotiations with financial companies and advisors… “He knew the tricks,” summarizes Carles Martínez, deputy inspector of Mosos, head of the investigation in Girona. Mossos d’Esquadra arrested him and 21 others last Tuesday on suspicion of impersonating 13 owners to achieve the following objectives: theft Over 1.2 million remittances to financial institutions.

Mossos’ investigation into the network began in May after the notary public office in Figueres (Girona) warned of an unusually large number of signatures of powers of attorney, always by the same group of people. The study revealed ways to move forward with research. The group initially looked for homes that would be “attractive” to investors, but turned to real estate portals where they could choose properties with interesting features and even visit them. I then asked for notes from the property register, and they already knew specific information such as who the owner was, the technical specifications of the house, and whether it was a paid property. As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that around 30 to 40 properties across the country, including Vigo, Las Palmas and Castelldefels, were not attracting attention.

And now the process of using all this data to impersonate the owners of apartments and houses and manufacture fake IDs has begun. “They created such a good document that it was almost impossible to detect,” Martinez said, asserting that with careful examination, an expert could have detected that the fake document was thinner than the real one. With these documents, a person claiming to be the owner of the house came to the notary’s office, accompanied by the tenant and the alleged leader, who was also a lawyer from Girona, who was detained in this case.

Once the lawyer signed a power of attorney that allowed him to act as if he were the owner of the house or apartment, the process began to find the conspiracy’s second victims: investors, advisors, and credit-only financial companies that were not banks. They contacted them and claimed that sensitive circumstances had led the owner to sign a power of attorney to seek emergency money. Investors ended up taking out loans ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 using the property as collateral. “If you don’t pay it back within a year, you keep the house,” the lieutenant says, explaining the terms of the loan. They were once attractive to investors because they could buy apartments at below-market prices if they weren’t repaid. This second part was also signed in front of a notary, unlike the first part, which was authorized.

Mossos d’Esquadra detected 13 cases of false notary authorization impersonation and completed 7 frauds worth more than 1.2 million cases. I tried another 30-40 times without success. “The financial companies are the ones who lost money,” Martinez says of the direct victims of fraud. So far, no homeowner has faced foreclosure for non-payment, as police investigations have been successful in meeting deadlines with investors. “Only some owners knew what had happened as they tried to extend their mortgages,” the sub-inspector elaborates.

Authorities have found no evidence that notaries are involved in the fraud. And they believe that the fact is that this organization managed to involve these offices in a large amount of work, which prevented them from acting more covertly. The arrests took place in Estepa (Seville), Rubi and Manresa, accompanied by civil security. During the search, investigators found forged identification cards and passports, an explosive pistol that was rigged to fire, and a small amount of narcotics. Of the 22 detainees, 17 are men and 5 are women, aged between 30 and 40. Most of them had previous records. They are accused of fraud, money laundering, document falsification, civil usurpation and membership in a criminal organization.