Homebuyers in Ho Chi Minh City have been tricked by con artists after failing to tell the difference between real and forged home ownership certificates.

The fraudsters have been counterfeiting land title and property ownership paperwork in order to trick well meaning buyers.

Several victims have ended up losing their money and been unable to take ownership of their chosen properties.

In one recent case, B.T.T., from Binh Thanh District, lost VND500 million (US$22,425) on the false purchase of a house in Tan Phu District after being conned by a self-proclaimed ‘mediator.'

The scammers were actually the tenants of the property, who had managed to forge all paperwork proving their ownership of the house.

They told T. that the owners of the residence were selling the house because they were heavily indebted.

Following a visit to the venue, T. agreed to buy it for VND2.3 billion ($103,155) and made an appointment with the sellers at a local notary office.

During their meeting, the conmen, who disguised themselves as the homeowners with their faces covered up due to an “illness,” asked T. for VND500 million up front in order to “pay their debts.”

After receiving the money from the victim, who handed it to them without any question, the scammers left the office to “buy some medicine," but never returned.

As T. found out soon after, the paperwork had been falsified, and when she contacted the real owner of the house, N.X.P., he had no idea his property was being sold.

According to P., the scammers had leased his house for about a week before the incident and had paid two months of rent in advance.

He was also unable to contact the suspects after being notified of the situation.

Nguyen The Can, the notary who spotted the fake documents used in T.’s case, stated that all paperwork, from IDs, home ownership papers to marriage certificates, were counterfeited in a sophisticated way.

Hard to identify

Several bogus documents have not been picked up by local notaries, allowing the criminals to continue their fraudulent schemes.

In April 2015, N.Q.V., from Binh Thanh District, came to a notary office to certify his documents and complete his deal to buy a piece of land in Go Vap District.

Through an ‘intermediary,’ he agreed to pay the ‘seller’ VND1.5 billion ($67,275) for the property, not realizing that they were both swindlers.

V. later found out that the land had already been sold to another person by its real owner and could not contact the people he had signed a deal with.

According to Nguyen Van Phu, member of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, buyers should check all information relating to a house or land at local land registries before making any purchase.

It is also recommended that they perform a background check on the sellers to prevent this situation from happening to them, Phu added.

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