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These times are for the Brits with property for sale in Spain. There is an oversupply of homes on the market, are properties that are more than ever to sell, and prices in many areas around us seem to be stagnating or falling. Well, as a culmination of the whole, suppliers are the target of a growing number of fraud.

Desperate providers make soft targets, which is the reason why these scams are flourishing in this market. The fact that many manufacturers now advertise their properties themselves, with websites, the buyer and seller together to facilitate the fraud by making it is easy for fraudsters to a large number of suppliers quickly and inexpensively. Whatever you think of the real estate agents in Spain, they offer their customers a certain amount of protection from these scams.

There are two types of fraud against the seller at the time at which the benefits of the fact that under the table cash payments are still regularly the Spanish real estate transactions. These scams seem to be advertising to people expensive properties because they are probably money.

The most common fraud is known as "rip deal", a kind of fraud that originated in France, but has been to Spain.

The genius of fraud lies in the deception of suppliers in the transfer of large amounts of cash into a money-changing operation that hides Sting. It works as follows: The people see themselves as buyers to contact you pretend to want to buy quickly, without, without asking questions. They give you some game to pay the deposit on the reserve in cash, usually U.S. dollars or Swiss francs, which they say, you can easily change at the bank. And how will the change of the deposit anyway, they ask if you do not mind an amendment to an additional amount for them, say 100,000 euros worth, in return for a hefty commission. The next step is a meeting in a posh hotel somewhere like Barcelona or Milan to do the business. You will go home with a bag full of worthless counterfeit notes.

Ian Ainsworth, 37, from Bolton, was contacted, 3-times on a family in Sotogrande, he is advertising for sale. "Once it was a Nigerian calling me on a French mobile phone, but most recently it was someone from North Africa to an Italian mobile," said Ainsworth, lives in San Luca de Barrameda on the Costa de la Luz. "" Every time they want without having to buy, this is a clear sign of trouble, and always ask if you are prepared to accept a large amount of cash. The last time I had with him for a while until she asked me to go to Monaco at his own expense. "

A rip is not always a foreign currency. Sometimes the seller is asked to 500-euro notes in small denominations, but once again the 500-euro notes to be counterfeit. 500-euro notes are in Spain as "Bin Laden", because if the euro was introduced for the first time all knew that they existed, but nobody had really seen. Well, for corruption and tax evasion in the Spanish real estate sector, there are more Bin Laden than anywhere in Spain. They are ideal Marbella-style backhanders and payments under the table.

If the RIP-Deal with a real estate transaction as bait to ensnare operator in a currency exchange fraud, at least in its victims, a property at the end. Not so with the other fraudulent providers now have to watch out for those who are aiming to retain ownership of the cheap, but under the table cash payments - known in Spain as a "B" money - which is a fake.

Traditionally, "B" money is in the notary's office, when the deeds were signed and the notary has to leave the room. But how many people can spot a counterfeit 500-euro banknote, if the forgery is good? And even if they can, what good will it do? The deeds were signed, and calling the police just landed in trouble with the tax authorities. You will be able to "B" cash payments, but a new type of scam is to amend the rules of the game.

Vince Barnes, 42, a professional musician from Newcastle upon Tyne, which has 2 properties for sale on the Costa Blanca, was recently by someone from the Ivory Coast. "" After the first contact, he came from France to my properties, and then buy them. The price is 480,000 euros, which he is not in question, but he wanted to pay 160.000 Euro in cash, and only 66% of the value on the deeds. The cash would be in 500-euro notes, but also that he had to improve the color of the notes, and remove some serial numbers, the claim that while it is perfectly legal. I think he has me for an idiot. "

A hapless German expat on the Costa Blanca, has recently been the victim of a double fraud. He handed over 400,000 euros in return for cash, but also a legally binding contract, which means that the sale of its property for 400,000 euros less than he wanted, or on another page 800,000 euros as compensation for the people who swindled him . He could not well go to the police, the country would like him in trouble with the law on money laundering and tax evasion.

Nobody knows how many people have opted for this fraud, because the victims have a strong incentive to remain silent. Last year the police in Barcelona announced they had discovered 16 RIP treated by gangs from Eastern Europe, with a total of 3 million euros. One must assume that the police only the tip of the iceberg. And it is my impression that many British owners who advertise their Spanish property for sale online to be contacted by fraudsters as a buyer.

If you try to sell a property in Spain, or anywhere else in Europe for the question, how do you continue to potential buyers without having to use one of these fraud? The answer is simple: it is clear from the outset that you do not cash payments, regardless of the currency, and no matter what yarn, a buyer could spin on who pay with cash. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is almost certain.

This article was written by Mark Stucklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor column in the Sunday Times, and Head of the Spanish Property Insight