Real estate fraud, mainly in tourist destinations, has grown significantly, as criminal groups falsify documents to sell properties, or build properties in areas classified as ecological rescue, specialists warned.
Miguel Saucedo, managing partner of Saucedo Abogados and specialist in real estate matters, highlighted that real estate fraud has grown in various tourist destinations, including the Riviera Maya and Acapulco, where incidents can reach more than 85 percent.
He highlighted that one of the factors that contributes to this type of illegal activity is the lack of follow-up by the state prosecutor’s offices at the national level, to the investigation folders of the complaints that exist for real estate fraud.
“As they are not crimes considered high impact, there is no follow-up, but if we see the volume of properties that are subject to fraud, we would see truly scandalous numbers,” he highlighted.
In Acapulco, Guerrero, he said, the fraud of falsification of department documents is mainly occurring, a problem that began to be detected more strongly after the passage of Hurricane “Otis.”
He explained that criminals are altering documents, falsifying legal documents such as deeds or sales contracts and impersonating people, to take over mainly abandoned properties and thereby resell them at extremely affordable prices.
He added that another type of fraud that is occurring in real estate matters in tourist destinations is that of land uses in condominium, house and even timeshare developments, which are built in ecological rescue zones. The specialist explained that these properties that are built in these areas, mainly in the Riviera Maya, lack documentation to be able to carry out their construction.
However, he said, these are built and marketed, but those who buy them are unaware that they are subject to closures. He mentioned that there is also the problem of fraud in judicial auctions of various properties in tourist destinations at prices ranging from 15 to 30 percent of their real value.
«By thoroughly analyzing these supposed offers, 99 percent of the cases are fraud, since there is no such auction and it is false that this property is in a judicial process. Or it is even false that the bank or any creditor that has it is auctioning it off so that a third party can acquire it,” Saucedo pointed out.
As reported REPORTUR.mxAt the end of April of this year, Quintana Roo ranked third nationally in real estate fraud through rent, with cases of monetary losses for victims of up to 33 thousand pesos. (QRoo: record of fraud in renting homes near the beaches).
