Common tricks used on overseas buyers
Last verified: 4 August 2026
The specific ways distance is used against you
None of these require a criminal. Most are ordinary market practice, made possible by the fact that you cannot see the plot, the record, or the other party.
1. The two-story dealer
The most profitable and the most common. A dealer tells the seller the market is weak and he should expect Rs 60 lakh. He tells a buyer the market is tight and the price is Rs 120 lakh, decide today. He takes Rs 110 lakh from the buyer, pays Rs 80 lakh to the seller, and keeps Rs 30 lakh. Neither party ever learns what the other paid.
Defence: establish the market price independently before speaking to any dealer — published transaction records, three separate quotes, and the price at which nearby plots actually changed hands, not asking prices.
2. Manufactured urgency
Only one plot left. Price rises Monday. Another buyer is coming this evening. Distance makes verification slow, so urgency is used to prevent it entirely.
Defence: any offer that cannot survive seventy-two hours of checking is an offer designed to avoid checking.
3. The phase substitution
Approval documents for Phase 1 are shown; the plot is in Phase 6, which has no approval. The society's famous name covers both.
Defence: match the phase named on the NOC to the phase of your plot. Verify with the authority by phase, not by society.
4. Paper possession sold as possession
You buy a plot you believe you can build on. The block has no roads, no water, no demarcation, and no possession letters have been issued.
Defence: the three questions in Guide 7, answered by somebody standing on the land.
5. The relative's power of attorney
A general power of attorney given to a brother or cousin for convenience, later used to sell or mortgage the property. Or on the buying side, a seller's attorney whose authority was revoked months ago.
Defence: give special, not general, powers of attorney; limit them to one task and one property; verify any attorney's authority with the registering office, not with the attorney.
6. Payment to the wrong account
Money sent to a dealer's personal account, a relative's account, or through informal channels. When a dispute arises there is no documented payment to the recorded owner.
Defence: pay the recorded owner, through banking channels, with a receipt naming the property.
7. The caretaker who becomes a claimant
A plot or farmhouse left in a caretaker's charge for years. Over time he builds, cultivates, or simply claims. This is the single most commonly lost category of overseas-held property.
Defence: a written caretaker arrangement, physical inspection at fixed intervals, and an annual check that the record still shows your name.
8. The oversold scheme
Files issued far beyond the plots the land can hold. Balloting is postponed repeatedly. Eventually the developer becomes unreachable.
Defence: sanctioned plot count against files issued, before paying anything.
9. The fake portal link
A WhatsApp link to what appears to be an official land record or authority website, showing whatever the sender wishes it to show.
Defence: type every government address into the browser yourself. Never verify anything through a link somebody sent you.
10. The transfer that was never recorded
A transfer letter is issued and handed over, but the society's register is never updated. The plot remains recorded in the seller's name and can be sold again.
Defence: after transfer, obtain a fresh statement from the society showing the plot in your name. The letter in your hand is not the record.
THE SINGLE HABIT THAT PREVENTS MOST OF THESE
Separate the person who finds the property from the person who verifies it. If the same dealer arranges the plot, produces the documents, recommends the lawyer and receives the payment, you have no independent check anywhere in the chain.