Victim of a title fraud: A man was tricked into transfering his apartments in Plovdiv to five fraudsters

A 57-year-old man from Plovdiv was scammed by four men and a woman, who systematically got him drunk, to transfer his three apartments in Plovdiv's Kyuchuk Paris quarter to other people. The perpetrators, aged 43 to 54, carried out the fraud between last summer and July 18 this year.

Two of the men were found to have befriended the owner of the three homes. Under the influence of alcohol, he signed documents to transfer the properties to third parties and so the homes were sold to new owners who were unaware of the fraudulent scheme.

While the property transactions were being processed, the owner of the flats was taken to a house in the town of Elena, so that he would not realise that he had been left without them. For several months he lived there with one of the fraudsters, who regularly provided him with alcohol. He was then taken to the Sunny Beach resort, where he spent several days. Finally, he returned to Plovdiv with a ticket bought by the scammers and only then did he realised that his properties had been taken away.

The District Prosecutor's Office in Plovdiv brought charges against the five, one of whom was an accomplice in the fraud, which resulted in major financial damage to the victim, the market value of the three properties. Witnesses have been questioned in the case, documentation has been seized, a valuation expert will be appointed to assess the price of the apartments sold, etc. In a police raid, the five fraudsters were detected on Monday and four of them were detained for 72 hours on the order of the supervising prosecutor.

The 47-year-old woman from the group has been released on her own recognizance and has been banned from leaving the country.