House Buyer - Money Laundering???

Concorde001

Morning;
not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes!

Our house (in the UK) is on the market, and we've just been contacted by an intermediary in France whose client is interested in buying the house for 'investment'. They rang on a French mobile phone for which we've got the number.

They asked for details of the house, which was sent minus any address details.

They have said that they will pay the asking price but that part of the sale has to be 'unofficial'. By that I guess they mean that if I sell the house for its correct value of (say) £500K it will go through the UK legal procedure for only £250K with the remaining balance of £250K paid in cash or into my bank account.

My initial reaction is that this is a scam; if not then it smells of something illegal and I want nothing to do with that, but I can't find anything anywhere that states that it is illegal.

Can anyone tell me the legalities (or otherwise) of what they are proposing?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Pete.

tyllwyd

Apart from the legalities of it - and I'd be prepared to bet that it is illegal - it sounds like a scam to me. I think that at some point you'd be asked to transfer money overseas to help the deal go through, and after that you'd find that your buyer had disappeared and your money had ended up in a Nigerian bank account.

Say no - it's not worth the risk.

Loopgames

Basically they're buying you're house for half price and you will not have a leg to stand on when they claim it for their own as you would have agreed a sale at 50% discount (assuming your home is worth 500k)

nomoneytoday

Your solicitor wouldn't release the deeds until the full amount was in your account...

ognum

This is a scam, it is illegal and you are probably one of many people they have contacted trying to find the idiot who will do it.

Dont be that idiot!

saverbuyer

Some people really need protection from themselves.

FraudBuster

If you try to pay £250k cash into your bank account you may find yourself arrested pending further enquiries.

Action Fraud:

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Concorde001

Afternoon;
agree with the other comments, which is why alarm bells started ringing when the 'agent' mentioned:
overseas investor
unofficial part payment
etc....etc....
Funny, when I told him I wasn't prepared to do anything 'unofficial' he said that they then couldn't proceed, which is when I said goodbye to him.

paddyrg

Scam, not a genuine buyer

Old_Git

tell them you will sell for £750,000 and when the sale is complete you will refund £250,000