JEDDAH, 11 December 2006 — For two years and counting, a group of Saudis have waited for authorities to review their complaints about a Jeddah-based real estate scam artist who disappeared with down payments on properties, one as high as SR50 million, Al-Madinah newspaper reported recently.
One of the victims of this fraud was Abdullah Kutbi, who says he tried to buy a villa from the crook, paid about SR1 million only to discover that the seller was gone.
“I tried calling the seller many times but there was no answer,” said Kutbi. “What scared me the most and made me certain that the man was a thief is that I saw others waiting in line to speak to him at his office, which was empty.”
According to the bereaved buyers, a man had established a shell company and showed them a Ministry of Commerce license. The man also showed his victims the actual properties, as well as other customer applications and paperwork to convince them that everything was in order. They made down payments after seeing the properties, but when they went to pick up the ownership papers, they discovered the deals were a sham.
Abdullah A. said that he was apartment-hunting when he happened upon an advertisement for the real estate company. He said he was fooled because the company seemed legitimate, even going so far as to have an office staff. He was lured by the rates, which were lower than what banks were offering for mortgages. “We paid SR520,000 for two apartments, one for me and the other one for my sister,” he said. “The amount of money was half of total value of the two apartments.
