Police investigating possible fraud over sale of HDC houses

Police are investigating a possible case of fraud after a couple spent $36,000 to purchase two Housing Development Corporation (HDC) houses advertised for sale on Facebook marketplace.

A Tunapuna woman told police she contacted a man sometime on February 3 after she saw an ad about the sale of two HDC houses in Phase Four, Malabar.

Two days later she went to a bank in Tunapuna and made an $18,000 downpayment for the purchase of one of the houses.

Her husband made a similar down payment for another house on a different account shortly after. Weeks later, the woman began querying the transaction when she realised it was stalling.

She said she was never given access to the houses and, as a result, demanded her money back. She was promised a refund, but told police efforts to get the money have proved futile.

Cpl La Rode of the Tunapuna Police Station has been assigned to investigate the matter.