Property fraud cases on a rise amid realty boom

With the boom in the real estate sector in the national capital region, the Millennium City is fast turning into a haven for property fraudsters. Leena Dhankhar reports.

With the boom in the real estate sector in the national capital region, the Millennium City is fast turning into a haven for property fraudsters.

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Over the past five years, the cases of property fraud have increased by about 35% every year in Gurgaon.

As many as 150 such cases were registered in 2011. The number rose to 205 last year.

Fraudsters often target properties where there is no mortgage or the owner lives abroad. On many occasions, they attempt to acquire ownership of a property either by using forged documents or by impersonating as the registered owner.

Thousands of people have been duped by rogue developers who sold properties in the pre-launch schemes where they do not even possess the land. It is only after paying substantial amount of money that the victims realise they are being cheated.

As many as 38 cases were registered in the city last year where the prospective buyers were made to sign agreement even as builders did not possess the land. The buyers are lured in the schemes and the realtors increase the property prices steeply as soon as the constructions begin, in total defiance of the agreement.

Victims of property frauds allege that the police refuse to register their cases. And when a case is registered, the law rarely catches up with the offenders.

In more than 50 per cent cases registered last year, forged documents were used for registry and also for raising loan for buying a property. Surprisingly, the loans from a bank too get approved with forged documents. It's only when the installments are not received by the bank, the incident is reported.

The city police claim they take strict action against the fraudsters and advise the investors to check the veracity of documents before purchasing a property. DCP (east) Maheshwar Dayal said, "People invest in properties without verifying their authenticity. They are lured by higher returns. One should verify the project, check reliability of the builder and then invest."