A 39-year-old woman has been detained in Astana on suspicion of fraud in a housing purchase. She promised an acquaintance to help buy an apartment through employees of construction companies. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The suspect and the victim had known each other for a long time — they had previously lived in the same city. During a conversation, the woman said she allegedly had connections in construction companies and could help with the purchase of real estate.
Believing her words, the victim handed over 1.5 mln tenge to the acquaintance as a prepayment. After receiving the money, the woman assured her for a long time that she was working on the apartment purchase, but later stopped communicating.
Police officers established the whereabouts of the 39-year-old suspect and detained her at her place of residence. A criminal case has been opened on fraud, and a pre-trial investigation is underway.
"Police urge citizens to be vigilant when making real estate transactions, to verify the reliability of offers and not to hand over large sums of money without proper documentation," the department said.