Scammer is not a registered estate agent

The real estate agents registration board clarified on Thursday that one of the two suspects in a €275,000 property investment scam case is not a registered real estate agent.

The board urged the public to always ask real estate agents for their registration and licence number, warning that other fraudsters are lurking.

The case emerged last week when the 60-year-old who was defrauded out of the money reported the incident to the police, three years after the transfer happened.

He finally approached the authorities after the younger of the two, a 41-year-old who claimed to be a real estate agent, allegedly admitted that the 60-year-old had been defrauded; adding that all the money was taken by the 44-year-old who then fled abroad.

But the registration board on emphasised that they proceeded with a swift investigation to ascertain the facts, clarifying that the man is not a real estate agent.

According to the 60-year-old’s complaint to the police, between November and December 2019, he was approached by a 44-year-old private employee and a 41-year-old who said he was a real estate agent to invest in a Turkish Cypriot plot in Paphos.

The two suspects told him that other people had invested and he could make a profit of up to €650,000, so the man gave them €275,000.

Since then, the man had occasionally asked for updates about the progress of his investment, and the suspects were allegedly telling him that he was on track, but citing various procedural issues for the delay in the payment of his profit.

Recently, the complainant met with the younger suspect, who allegedly admitted the 60-year-old was defrauded and that all his money was taken by the 44-year-old, who fled abroad.

The two are wanted for conspiracy to commit a felony and obtaining money by false representations.