A masterstroke of real estate fraud, this is what Shunfei Pu experienced, victim of a fraud which cost him a million euros. It only took one signature for his crooks to run away with the jackpot.
If some rack their brains a little to set up real estate scams, like Shray Goel for example, others aim for a simpler approach. Shunfei Pu, a 35-year-old investor, was robbed by two notorious fraudsters in a real estate investment case. Today, those responsible are being prosecuted before the Paris judicial court. How were these two thieves able to steal a million euros using a signature?
A simple but ingenious ploy
It all started when Shunfei Pu acquired shares in a real estate company (SCI) in January 2022. The latter, called Le Petit Suchet, owned two Parisian apartments, a rather safe investment, a priori. The problem is that the two property dealers with whom he dealt with for this acquisition are well-known crooks of justice: originally from Saint-Brice (Val d’Oise), the two brothers had already been imprisoned. examination as part of a vast real estate fraud operation. This also concerned 17 other people, all of whom were indicted in 2019.
A few months after the acquisition, the brothers managed to regain control of the SCI, through a fraudulent transfer of shares dated July 26 and registered on September 8 at the commercial court. How is it possible ? Very simply, the two charlatans actually imitated Shunfei Pu’s signature, in Chinese characters.
The person concerned declares: “ They managed to steal my company by forging my signature “. This relied on graphological expertise from the LFD forensics firm. The maneuver revealed by the firm is quite astonishing, since the expertise proved that it was an exact superposition of the two signatures. Pu, rather stunned, is surprised: “ It’s crazy what they did, Photoshop my signature! In their place, I would have still tried to change it
A little… “.
Consequences of the scam
The usurpation will not go unpunished, and Pu is today assisted by his lawyer, Me Jean-Marc Descoubès. The legal battle is launched with the aim of canceling this fraudulent transfer and for Pu to recover his million euros. Me Descoubès states “ we will use all possible legal avenues to recover this money “. However, he seems to readily recognize the “ naivety and overconfidence » from his client.
The inconveniences for Pu do not stop there and now go beyond the material. The affair took a slightly darker turn when the latter was the victim of two burglary attempts, committed on November 17 and 18. “ Since I filed the case in court, people have come to my house and tried to force entry » he explains. Pu was able to recognize one of the two crooks during the second. As a result, Pu fears for his own safety and we can very well imagine that an attack at home is on the cards of the two criminals. A rather distressing situation, which led Pu to consult a psychologist. The latter diagnosed him with “ A
post-traumatic stress » accompanied « depressed mood, insomnia with
nightmares, fear of going out “.
The case continues next March, when the first hearing will take place. A rather surprising fact seems relevant to note in this story: the total absence of in-depth verification of the signatures by the registry during the transfer of shares. A weakness in the system that thieves were able to take advantage of.
Source : The Parisian
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