therat 18 Report post Posted August 11, 2010 http://business.asiaone.com/Business/My%2B...805-230701.html 1 flat, 3 buyers By Elysa Chen HE WANTED to sell his flat and hired a property agent to help him do so. But the agent ended up collecting deposits, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, from buyers and disappeared with the money. Now, John (not his real name) is being hounded by the buyers, who are asking for their money back. The property agent, who is in her 30s, has been arrested. She is suspected of being involved in about 90 cases of cheating. A police spokesman said investigations are on. Yesterday, the police released statistics for the first half of this year, which showed that commercial crimes like this are on the increase. John told The New Paper that he met the property agent only six months ago. She was a friend of his friend and he trusted her. So much so that he agreed to sign receipts and other documents even before they had been filled up. He said: "She said it would be easier for her to do the transactions. Sometimes, I didn't even know what I was signing." Between January and July this year, several potential buyers went to view his five-room flat. When one of them agreed to buy it, he handed John's agent a deposit. But not long later, the agent would tell John that the buyer had backed out at the last minute. She would then bring other potential buyers for viewings and collect deposits from them. "I didn't take the cheques from her each time because she said she would help me use the money to pay HDB," said John. He owed the HDB about $17,000 in arrears. But he later learned that the agent had cashed the cheques and kept the money for herself. Cheques In all, three buyers gave the agent cheques for $5,000 each, one gave a cheque for $6,000 and another handed over $10,000 in cash. The one who handed over $10,000 was a 35-year-old driver. He said the agent had told them they could buy John's flat for about $300,000, though it was valued at about $380,000. He said: "We were suspicious at first, because it was going at so far below valuation." He and his wife had called the agent's company to check that there was such an agent working there. After they did their checks, they handed over $5,000 in cash to the agent at John's home and signed the option to purchase on July 5. They passed the agent another $5,000 on July 12. But she disappeared after that. It was only when he and his wife lodged a police report that they found out she had been arrested. He said: "When we heard that, we had a sinking feeling. That was all the money we had.Our dreams are shattered." John said that he found out about the scam only when a police officer called him on July 10, asking him to go down to have his statement recorded because one of the buyers had lodged a police report against him. He said he tried to reach the agent on her mobile phone for three days but she was uncontactable. John's friend helped him do a check on the HDB website and found that an application had been submitted for his flat to be sold at $340,000. The first appointment with HDB had been scheduled for Aug 11. He also found out, to his horror, that the agent had not paid HDB on his behalf. He said: "When I saw that...I called the buyers up and explained that I was cancelling the sale because it was being sold below valuation. "I also advised them to make a police report against the agent. I hope that people will learn from my mistake and question their agents instead of signing documents blindly." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therat 18 Report post Posted August 11, 2010 Lesson 1; Don't sign blindly Lesson 2: Don't issue cash chq Lesson 3: Present market, where got sell below valuation. Confirm has "GHOST" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ngunadi 2 Report post Posted August 11, 2010 Lesson 4: Never ever trust people easily. No matter what. Lesson 5: Always prepare for the un-expected. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therat 18 Report post Posted August 11, 2010 Lesson 6: Do own homework. Don't depend on other 100% if none of the above was done. Then only got 1 word Oh-B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bepgof 20 Report post Posted August 11, 2010 (edited) Lesson 4: Never ever trust people easily. No matter what. Lesson 5: Always prepare for the un-expected. Still got many such uncles, aunties around le. Never ending. Today John, tmr Mary, the next is Robert, all Q up lor, waiting for jornalist to interview them. I believed these ppl have one thing in common: eyes blind cos being pasted with $ stamps. Edited August 11, 2010 by bepgof Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ngunadi 2 Report post Posted August 11, 2010 Come back again to the 7 sins. Greed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
