Survivors of the August 10 earthquake that struck Risaralda, Colombia, are grappling with a troubling new threat on top of rebuilding their homes: scammers trying to steal and sell their properties out from under them.
Police in the town of Dosquebradas arrested a woman accused of exploiting the disaster to defraud earthquake victims. According to investigators, she forged identity documents belonging to people affected by the quake and even used fake fingerprints made of silicone to impersonate them during real estate transactions.
Authorities say she was caught red-handed inside a notary’s office—an institution in Colombia that, similar to a US notary public, certifies legal documents and property transfers—while attempting to close the sale of a piece of real estate. The deal was reportedly worth around 400 million Colombian pesos, or roughly $100,000 USD at current exchange rates.
Officials believe the woman may have targeted multiple properties left vulnerable while their owners were focused on recovering from the disaster and had little ability to monitor paperwork tied to their homes and land.
The case has raised alarms among residents already displaced or affected by the earthquake, prompting calls for tighter oversight of property transactions in the disaster zone. To read the full investigative report and see additional details from El Tiempo, check out the original article.
Source: Esta es la mujer que vendía lotes de víctimas del terremoto falsificando cédulas y usando huellas de silicona (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Senator McCaskill, BY-ND 2.0 (via Openverse).