“Irish hook” – a new type of fraud, which has recently become very popular among Bulgarian scammers. Super simple. Designed for pathological greed of customers. There are mostly citizens of Russia and Ukraine. There is no protection.
The essence of the scam is as follows. A black realtor is spreading information about the sale of an apartment to a foreign investor (Irish, English, German, etc.), they say, so it is urgent to sell housing due to the crisis.
To attract more potential buyers, prices for “Irish” secondary are announced well below commercial. Contracts are concluded with clients to provide assistance in buying real estate. Thus realtors ask an advance in the sum, as a rule, 500-1000 euros, supposedly, differently won’t act. This relatively small amount is like a guarantee that the buyer will not “jump” out of the deal.
A potential buyer, seduced by the low price of real estate, in most cases agrees to give a small advance. And …
And the realtor begins to depict the activities of negotiations with the owner of the apartment in Ireland, Britain and more. Negotiations continue as if difficult. The foreigner then agrees, then changes his mind, then decides to raise the price, then lowers again. In short … All this red tape lasts for several months, acting on the nerves of the buyer.
In the end, psychologically exhausted, the buyer himself refuses to buy cheap “Irish” real estate. And the realtor keeps an advance for the difficult work of negotiations. Since the scammer fools several clients at once (sometimes a dozen), his income is quite decent. And constant. Some “suckers” refuse to buy – others appear.
It is almost impossible to prove fraud. Especially since the scammer develops the situation so that the client himself refused the transaction.
The only salvation is not to fall for the insidious hook of the “Irish” apartment. And if swallowed, it is better not to flinch and easily say goodbye to your blood – consider it a payment for science … An attempt to return the money is likely to end in failure, but only spend more on lawyers’ fees.
Source bulgar-rus.com