The 54-year-old from Siedlce wanted to buy a property outside of Poland. He chose Albania as the destination and began browsing local advertisement portals and contacting real estate agencies. When he reached one of the agencies, he was connected with a man who promised to help him find the best deal.
The Broker Showed Properties in Albania and Convinced Him to Buy Remotely
The man from Siedlce trusted the broker, who runs a YouTube channel about life in Albania. The 54-year-old flew to Albania with his nephew, where they met the broker and toured several apartments together. However, none of them appealed to him at the time. While there, they signed a power of attorney in Albanian and English at a local notary, and the man from Siedlce handed over a deposit of 1,960 euros toward the purchase of an apartment. After returning to Poland, they continued to communicate via a messaging app, according to the Siedlce City Police.
The broker changed his phone number several times, and eventually sent a video showing the interior of an apartment priced at 49,000 euros. He assured the man that it was a great deal, with the low price being due to the owner's urgent need to sell. The man from Siedlce decided to purchase the apartment and transferred the entire amount to the account provided by the broker. However, after making the payment, he began to have doubts about the legitimacy of the transaction.
The Scammer Tricked the Polish Investor with a "Deal" and Defrauded Him of 210,000 PLN
The man from Siedlce was told by the broker that "the money hadn't arrived yet," so he contacted his bank to block the transaction. However, the broker convinced the 54-year-old that everything was fine and that the blocked funds were preventing the completion of the apartment purchase. Trusting the broker, the man removed the block on the transferred money, agreeing that the broker would refund the money and that he would personally fly over with cash to finalize the transaction.
The man from Siedlce arranged to meet the broker on September 16 at a bank branch in Warsaw, where the full refund was supposed to be transferred back to his account. However, when he arrived, the broker was nowhere to be found, and all contact was cut off. "This is when the man realized that he had fallen victim to a calculated scammer, who had spent two months carefully manipulating and deceiving him. In total, he lost nearly 210,000 PLN," the police reported.
