A property fraud attempt was foiled by the police in Varna. Three fraudsters have been identified. They tried to acquire real estate in the village of Bliznatsi under the scheme with the so-called circumstantial verification – procedure for proving ownership. The fraudsters wanted to acquire the property of an elderly man from the village of Bliznatsi, who died at the beginning of the year. He lived alone, had no family or children, reports BNT.
Soon after his death, however, unknown people appeared in the property.
„When I asked them, they said: "We are a construction company and they ordered us to throw everything out." – ‘Who ordered you?’ – – "Well, the owner." – ‘Who is the owner" - I shout - "It has no owners.”
„No one has come since then, but apparently someone warned them, because at ten to twelve they were here, throwing luggage. The police came at one and a half, one and twenty - there was no one.”
The criminal scheme is simple. The fraudsters submit an application to the relevant municipal administration for a background check. This is a procedure for proving ownership. The property tax is paid several years ago, three witnesses are found who confirm before a notary that the person has been managing the property, and thus they obtain a title deed. The thwarted fraud attempt is not the only one in the Avren Municipality.
Emanuil Manolov, Mayor of the Avren Municipality: “We had a similar case in Avren, in which it was a question of obtaining apartments owned by foreign citizens through a detailed inspection. We refused to issue documents… and the person who was trying to acquire these properties managed to convict us and we paid thousands of levs in compensation because we stopped such a procedure.”
Since the beginning of the year, the District Prosecutor's Office – In Varna, 27 cases have been filed on complaints from property owners who have been the subject of fraud.
Plamen Ivanov, Deputy District Prosecutor: “In theory, the procedure is formalized and controllable, but in practice, significant weaknesses arise, mainly related to giving false testimony during the factual checks. A number of legislative changes are needed, not only in the criminal law, but also in the special laws related to notarial activity and property.”
If you find that you are a victim of property fraud, you must immediately report it to the police and the prosecutor's office. Practice shows that cases in such cases are not resolved quickly.