CENTURY 21 Castelo Branco, Covilha and LisbonHaving very recently dealt with this Real Estate Agency in Portugal, over a two month plus period, with a view to buying a property, we came to realise that this crowd are very clearly a highly suspect organisation. They practice deceptive pressure selling tactics, and deploy contract less reservation fee collection methods well in advance of any real agreement between the seller and the buyer - masquerading as so called "property purchase reservation" promises. If this doesn't work they move on to doing precisely the same thing with so called "CPCV contracts" to trick much larger sums of cash out of unsuspecting buyer bank accounts, well before any deeds are signed, and if they can get away with it, before any due diligence is actually carried out by a solicitor. Please be aware that both these so called "contracts" are neither legal nor are they necessary. They are basically a cleverly disguised scam perpetrated by unscrupulous estate agents, designed to separate a naïve fool from their money.If the buyer refuses both of these advance fee ploys, they will then up the ante and move to demanding immediate payment of the agreed full purchase price into the sellers account and will employ blackmail tactics to try and compel a buyer into making this irreversible mistake. Finally when all else fails and if the buyers are still there on the day that the so called deeds of sale are to be signed, one may well find themselves in a room surrounded by up to 10 people linked to Century 21. This is meant to intimidate the buyers into agreeing to send money immediately to an unidentified bank account provided by Century 21, which has been conveniently named as the sellers account. The hope is that the buyer sends 1000s of euros without any legal protection whatsoever. Our advice is to never use this agency as they are totally untrustworthy, corrupt, deceptive and basically a bunch of fraudsters in disguise. Furthermore if you are a foreigner they know you haven't a hope in hell of getting a single cent back from them.All techniques are deployed only to gather reservation fees and CPCV fees (both totally unguaranteed legally), and neither are legally required at all in order to buy a property in Portugal. It's a total con and crooked solicitors are in on it so beware foreign buyers. There is no protection whatsoever and you will lose the money if paid and the sale inevitably falls through. In fact these crooked estate agents have no real intention to sell anything, only to make off with the loot. 10% is the common amount requested in association with the so called CPCV well in advance, which will be in the thousands.They need criminal investigation by the authorities and some of the people named below may well deserve to be arrested and imprisoned.Beware of the following list of names, who are highly corrupt liars with only one aim - to collect and retain reservation & CPCV fees from unsuspecting, foolish and over trusting buyers:Luis Figueiredo - an ageing (possibly 70 year old), silver tonged liar with all the guile of a full blown psychopath. We believe this man is the criminal mastermind behind this organised "property selling" fraud gang.Ana Vitoria - a shambling mess of a human used by Luis Figueiredo we believe, scout for unsuspecting buyers misrepresenting herself and lying about virtually everything. Please note that this woman works as an Estate Agent for Re/Max out of Covilha Portugal, falsely advertising herself as an independent consultant. So avoid Re/Max also we would advise.Afonso Trindade - a 22 or 23 year old clueless successor to the Century 21 crown. He appears to be an upcoming advanced fee fraudster. During the entire 2 month plus process this man was conspicuously absent and therefore faceless. How convenient.Jaqueline Scholles - This woman was basically the silent side kick for Luis Figueiredo at Century 21 Covilha. If you do involve yourself with these morally corrupt fraudsters, arm yourself with a good lawyer, do not pay a cent to them, ignore and swat away all fraudulent techniques they use to obtain any fees, for example they might say: 'you will lose the sale with no reservation or CPCV fee payment as there are others making offers simultaneously" You will find and eventually realise that this an utter lie and a psychological trick used to manipulate you into paying them free cash. Very similar to the tricks used by low end 419 scammers out of Nigeria. So watch out as this technique is all too common in Portugal. But on this occasion we seem to have identified an entire gang of fraudsters and were able to dismantle and expose their agenda.AVOID THIS ESTATE AGENT IF POSSIBLE.STAY AWAY FROM THESE UNSCRUPULOUS FRAUDSTERS.
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