Mendoza Times Herald - Foreign Investors Beware - Part 3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) May 11, 2009 --

San Rafael, Mendoza – One of the biggest problems faced by foreign investors is finding reliable workers and trust-worthy managers or administrators for agricultural properties. A non-resident or absentee property owner is forced to rely on local residents to provide them with necessary farm labor and supervision. In many cases these services are provided by or through the realtor or real estate company that sold the investors their agricultural property, but as pointed out earlier parts of this series, far too many investors abandon common sense to place their trust in local people with whom they can communicate. American, Canadian, Australian, and English investors, for example, often employ English-speaking locals or ex-pats simply because they can talk to them. Too often, a friendly English-speaking person is hired as a property manager or administrator without checking their background, experience, or reputation even though the same investor would require resumes, references, and other verifiable information if they were in their home country.

While there are certainly many reliable individuals and companies with English language communication skills or staff, there are also certainly some that will take advantage of the investor with false information and excessive charges. A few will take the absentee investor´s money and do nothing at all while sending false or exaggerated reports of work performed and services rendered. Some of the most common scams are:

- Falsely informing the investor that certain services are required by Argentina law and offering to perform or provide the services at exorbitant rates.

- Obtaining a power of attorney from the investor to gain control of the investor´s local bank account and funds.

- Inducing the investor to set up a local corporation or trust that they can control. This is particularly bad for the investor if they should make the local person the trustee of a trust.

- Fraudulently doubling or tripling charges for agricultural labor and supplies.

- Falsely advising the investor that all or some part of their crop has been lost – usually to freezing weather or a hail storm.

- Obtaining funds from the investor for agricultural work that is never performed.

- Falsely informing the investor that they have experience in farm work or management.

The investigation of these scams in the South of Mendoza turned up several individuals and three companies that routinely engage in all or some of them. One particular individual is noteworthy for the audacity and extent of his efforts to take advantage of foreign investors. He is a long-term resident of San Rafael, and is an ex-pat, originally from the Northeast region of the U.S.A. He is married to a local woman, but apparently uses his younger mistress to assist him in his scams. Learn more in Part 4.