Protect yourself from scams
Property buyers abroad are a target for fraud: fake listings, people pretending to be consultants, and forged payment instructions. Most of it can be stopped with a phone call. Please read this before you send money to anyone in connection with a purchase.
We never ask you to pay us, or a consultant personally, for a property. We do not hold client money, and we never ask for payment through gift cards, cryptocurrency or payment apps.
Where purchase money goes
Money for a property is paid to the developer or seller's designated account, to an official escrow account where the market requires one, or through your own lawyer or conveyancer. If anyone asks you to pay somewhere else, stop and check with us first.
People pretending to be us
- Fraudsters set up profiles on Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, TikTok and Facebook using the names and photographs of real consultants. Check any contact through the details published on this website.
- We do not do business through unofficial channels. Be wary of unexpected messages asking for personal details, reservation fees or deposits.
- A listing that appears elsewhere at a price that looks too good to be true, under our name, may be fake. Check it against this website.
Email and bank transfer fraud
- Confirm bank details by telephone with your lawyer, conveyancer or the developer before you send money, using a number you already know rather than one in the email.
- Treat any late change to bank details as a warning sign. Fraudsters intercept email and send convincing replacement instructions.
- Look for pressure to act quickly, small misspellings in an email address, or a tone that does not sound like the sender.
- Do not send passport copies or financial documents by ordinary email unless you have confirmed who will receive them.
- After a transfer, call the recipient to confirm the money has arrived in the right account.
If something looks wrong
Do not reply and do not pay. Contact us through the channels on this website. If you have already sent money, contact your bank straight away, because a transfer can sometimes be stopped if the bank acts quickly, and report it to the police.