Massive Real Estate Fraud Scheme Uncovered in Casablanca Amid Pandemic Foreclosures

Taking advantage of the multiplication of seizures of luxury homes in the green city of Bouskoura, individuals have organized themselves into a network to defraud the bankrupts of the pandemic. They undervalue the value of real estate put up for auction for the benefit of the creditors of these bankrupts in the expert reports, reports Assabah. In doing so, they allow accomplices to acquire them at bargain prices before reselling them at a high price.

Upon learning of the value retained in the experts’ reports for the auction of their real estate, the victims, merchants and bankrupt entrepreneurs, discovered the trick. As an example, the estimate made for a 1,000 m² building built on three levels. The report evaluates it on the basis of a two-story house. The victims blame the experts and surveyors for having established an assessment of their property without first going to their homes.

Dismayed, many of them demand the outright cancellation of these reports and the appointment of bailiffs so that new expert assessments are carried out in accordance with the rules. The only problem: a court-appointed expert in a case can only be dismissed if specific conditions are met, including the existence of prior conflicts with one of the parties concerned by his expertise or the handling of a case that does not fall within his competence.