Alex Trelinski
THREE people have been arrested in Malaga for scamming around 1,200 clients who paid up to €55,000 for homes that will never be built.
The people detained by the Guardia Civil are behind Grupo 21 and have been charged with document forgery and fraud.
The trio are accused of taking reservation fees for new-build homes by falsifying documents and not owning the properties where real estate developments were taking place.
Projects were being marketed in Aguilas in the Murcia region, as well as Almeria, Almunecar and Malaga in Andalucia.
Some of the victims made a first payment of €12,000 to reserve houses, but many of them still continued to pay for off-plan purchases reaching sums of up to €55,000.
700 of the affected people were interested in Almeria properties at two sites.
The promoter Grupo 21 marketed between 800 and 1,000 pre-sold apartments on land they never owned.
Some properties were allegedly sold twice- attracting deposits of between €12,000 and €55,000- with estimates that Grupo 21 banked up to €20 million.
Investigations by the Granada-based newspaper, Ideal, revealed that Grupo 21 did not have the special bank accounts (CCE) required by law for real estate developers.
It syphoned off money given for reservations into current accounts used for other purposes.
Sales teams lured in buyers by saying how overwhelmed they were with the response to their offers and that properties were ‘selling fast’.
Purchases could choose from the ‘few remaining’ homes and deposit a 10% value of the asking price.
Among its methods, Grupo 21 erected billboards on building land where the houses were to be constructed, with the boards disappearing at the end of last year.
As part of the alleged deception, they told those interested in buying the homes that if they had second thoughts, the deposit money would be refunded.
The Grupo 21 directors have 12 companies in their name in six Andalucia cities.
Offices under the Grupo 21 name have all closed with customers fearing that they will never get their money back.
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