I sit here, writing this post whille awaiting my next meeting with yet again somebody that has been scammed by a so called “financial broker”.
I used to encounter truck loads of people, foreigners being the main target, that got involved in a web of untitled land, different condominium scams and a number of stories that i could write a book about.
But the most recent, does not involve the DR or title problems. This scheme is the most disgusting, revolting of them all. Why you ask? because as a result of the downturn on the economy and the denial of the banks who have buried their heads in the sand and have not come up with a solution, no, they are awaiting for all governments to solve the financial woes the world is living today, these people, who by legal reasons and pending investigation I will not name are feeding on the desperation of vulnerable builders, businesses and much more here in the Dominican Republic.
This is how the scam works: they will tell you that they can get you a loan, they will say that the interest rate will be less than any financial institution in the Dominican Republic, and then they will ask you for a downpayment for closing costs. These closing costs are astronomical, you are talking in the region of the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
After that there is a sea of misinformation, going around in circles and basically these businesses and builders will not see their money again. The funny thing about it is that these so called “brokers” have mainstream offices in the country and sometimes even abroad. Preing on the vulnerable is the same as breaking in into an elderly persons house and stealing their pension money, it is a disgusting exercise, hopefully these crooks wont sleep at night thinking of the damage they cause, but these are people with no conscience and something has to be done by the Law enforcement agencies in the Dominican Republic and the secret service to liaise between themselves to prevent anymore of these schemes to be carried out.
If you have been approached by any of these people please contact me on aegan@eganproperties.net
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: banks, caribbean, client, clients, construction, development, developments, dominican investment, dominican investments, dominican republic, dominican republic real estate, due diligence, financial, financing, invesment property, lending, loan to value, mortgages, santo domingo
Living in the Dominican Republic for years I can tell you my share of scams I know of and have heard of. What is even worse is what happens to the scammers time to time. The stories are filled with horror.
It is not an easy scammer playground anymore.
sometimes they get caught, but most of the time they get away with it, thats why we have to be on the lookout for these people and join forces to stop them!