Real Estate Scam: Fake Architect and Accomplice Jailed for Fraud in Morocco

According to the daily Assabah, the two con men were arrested by the police, following a complaint filed by a real estate developer. He says he was contacted by the accomplice who informed him of the launch of a public tender for the construction of a road in the commune of Rommani under the prefecture of Khemisset. He made him believe that he personally knows the architect in charge of the project and that he could help him if he is interested in the project.

Having set his plan in motion, he shows up a few days later with the fake architect to confirm the launch of this tender. Continuing their fraud plan, they return fifteen days after the meeting, asking the real estate developer to fill out the specifications and provide a bank guarantee certificate of 6 million dirhams. They even go so far as to ask him for sensitive documents from his company in order to bid on this public contract. They will tell him a few days later that his company has won the contract and that he now needs to appear before the commission in charge of the contracts in the municipality.

He is taken to Rommani where he is introduced to two individuals who would be members of the commission. He falls into the trap and pays the fake architect the sum of 270,000 dirhams and his accomplice 210,000 dirhams as an advance to start the project.

Seeing that he had been scammed, the real estate developer asked to visit the project site to get an idea of the work to be done. But the two con men came up with one flimsy excuse after another to prevent him from accessing the request. He realizes he has been duped and filed a complaint against the fake architect and his accomplice.