Land sharks lie in wait

What can be more frustrating than investing some money on a piece of land in Hyderabad and later coming to know that the same plot is registered in the names of three others. What more, when you cannot find the owner and the mediator who egged you to get into the deal.

Hyderabadi fraudsters excel in the art of deception. But their game continues as long as the buyer is ignorant of certain facts. If any prospective buyer is careful enough, he can see through the game and protect his money.

Worried over the way in which citizens are being taken for a ride by the real estate fraudsters, the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police have been sounding alerts on the modus operandi being employed by the fraudsters in land deals.

Here is a broad classification of different methods employed to cheat the gullible in land deals:
Fake Documents:

This is one of the most common methods of cheating. There have been several cases in and around Hyderabad of fraudsters availing loans on fake documents of lands owned by others.

The typical modus operandi is that if someone is proposing to sell open plots, real estate agents collect photostat copies of documents promising that they would get customers after showing the documents.

In some cases, some of them got fake sale deeds made and mortgaged them with banks to avail huge loans. The agents would get their accomplices to impersonate the real owner, who would not be aware of the transaction. The bank authorities and the real owner would come to know the truth only after the instalments are not paid and the former land with attachment notices.

Lesson: Never hand over photostat copies of sale deeds to people of dubious character.
Double mortgage

There could be some tricky land owners who would offer reasonable prices for the plots owned by them. In some cases, before people got their euphoria of becoming owners of plots, banks representatives landed up at the site with attachment notices. Reason, before the sale the plot was mortgaged not just to one bank to two more. The seller of the plot would obviously not be found anywhere for the next two years. And even if the mediator is traced, he would be of no use.

Lesson: Verify the ownership particulars from Sub Registrar Office.
Multiple GPA

The most commonly employed methods of cheating. The land plots are sold by showing what appears to be a genuine general power of attorney.

There have been instances when people who purchased the plots went there to take up some construction activity and soon two or three persons claiming ownership would turn up.

After lengthy arguments and an imminent police intervention, they realise that the owner had given GPAs to different people before selling the plot to other three.

Lesson: Do not lose your money due to your laxity in approaching the Sub-Registrar Office about the ownership.