A property sale scam that police said started in the US and ended up in the Cayman Islands was busted Tuesday, according to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
An unidentified 65-year-old man from Colorado, USA was arrested late Tuesday afternoon in the Seven Mile Beach area for suspected fraud after investigators said he tried to sell property that didn’t belong to him. No charges had been filed against the man at press time.
He was a visitor to Cayman, police said, and is suspected of uttering false documents and of attempting to obtain property by deception.
According to RCIPS Superintendent Brian Donley, the sale attempt involved a condo at the Poinsettia property on West Bay Road just south of Captain’s Bakery.
Mr. Donley said police had been working on the case with US authorities “for some time”.
The investigation started after police got a report that a man had attempted to sell property in Cayman that did not belong to him and without the owner’s authority. The Poinsettia condo was valued at nearly US $500,000.
Police said the forged documents the man used in the scam were obtained in the US and brought into the Islands with the specific intent to commit fraud.
Although police declined to comment on this point, other sources told the Caymanian Compass that the suspect in this case was linked with the property he was allegedly trying to sell. He did not simply pick a random property.
Remax real estate broker Kim Lund said the company assisted police in the fraud investigation.
Cruise ship scam?
Tuesday’s case was just the latest in a string of incidents this year that have been committed in Cayman by outside scammers. In some cases, the suspects have been caught, in some they haven’t.
On 28 February, a pair of theft suspects – who either posed as, or who actually were cruise ship tourists – swiped tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery from the Effy Jewellers store on Fort Street.
Not one of the more than two dozen people who were inside the store at the time the theft occurred noticed anything was happening, even though the two expensive pieces taken were being kept in a glass case at the front of the store.
A closed-circuit television video that was reviewed by the Caymanian Compass, did manage to catch the two men in the act. But police have reported no arrests.
The two pieces, a 15 carat diamond tennis necklace and an 18 carat gold setting tennis bracelet, were taken from the front display case. The case is visible from the street, but it cannot be opened from outside the store without smashing the glass.
“These are the two most expensive pieces,” store manager Deepak Mirchandani said. “They really knew which corner to go around; they did their homework. “
The store manager said none of the staff or other customers noticed what was happening partly because the thefts occurred at the busiest time of day – 10.30am – and there were literally dozens of people in the store. Also, there is a large rectangular marble column in the front of the business just behind the entrance. This would have shielded the view of many store customers and staff from the display case, the store manager said.
Poker cards
Royal Cayman Islands Police arrested two men earlier in February in connection with a cash machine skimming scam.
Investigators in the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit received a report that a number of fraudulent withdrawals had been made from cash machines in the George Town area around mid-February.
The bank involved advised the police that the cards used during the transactions had been seized by the machines.
The cards were not legitimate bank cards – they were “poker cards” used in casinos, police said. The metallic strips on the cards had been loaded with potential victims’ account details taken from foreign bank accounts.
The exact amount of money stolen was not known.
Police enquiries revealed the ‘poker cards’ had also been used to make purchases at local businesses.
Following a police operation Wednesday, two Romanian men, aged 22 and 25, were arrested at Owen Roberts International Airport in connection with the scam. Both men later received one year jail terms after entering guilty pleas.
Law firm taken
Fraudsters targeting Cayman Islands law firms in attempts to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars illegally got away with approximately $300,000 in one recent case, according to sources.
Detective Chief Inspector Claudia Brady of the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit said those in the law profession should be on the lookout for suspicious communication from people posing as overseas clients.
“So far one law firm has fallen victim to the scam,” Chief Inspector Brady said. “But we are aware that other firms are being targeted. That’s why people need to be extra vigilant.
“People posing as overseas clients are contacting law firms claiming that they want to retain their services. They say that they want the law firm to act on their behalf to collect a debt from someone living on island.
“A short time after the law firm accepts the work the ‘debtor’ pays up – sending the law firm a high value US dollar check. It’s at that point the ‘client’ asks for the money to be transferred to their overseas account. When the ‘debtor’s’ check reaches the clearing bank it is found to be fraudulent and the law firm is hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket.”
The Caymanian Compass has contacted the law firm that was involved in the scam for comment. Phone calls had not been returned by press time. Police also had not responded to requests to provide further details.
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