This page has been created and updated due to the continuous flow of clients that have contacted or visited our offices looking for land they have purchased on the Internet over the past few years. The number of victims appears to be increasing and we feel it is time to do whatever possible to stop this real estate scam. Countless people have fallen victim to the scam outlined below...and no one has ever been able to stop the perpetuator - YET! By putting this information together, we hope to accomplish several things:

1. Bring awareness to local community and the internet public of the existence of this scam. Most potential buyers of these properties would most likely do a search for information on the seller and properties. We hope they will come across this information prior to sending their money to the seller.

2. Provide a wealth of information available to victims, law enforcement personnel and agencies. The perpetuator has created a web of deceitful information that many victims, topographers, attorneys and law enforcement officials have had a hard time pinpointing. The perpetuator is a professional and has created a web of misinformation to trick his victims. We hope this presentation speaks for itself and will provide enough information to cease this activity.

3. Inform victims of the scam and discourage them from attempting to resell the same scam (unknowingly) to other potential buyers - as is actively happening today. Many victims have been successful in getting refunded when they put sufficient pressure on the seller.

4. Bring awareness to real buyers: DO NOT EVER purchase real estate sight unseen!!!

5. Discourage the perpetuator to stop these activities by exposing his tactics and hopefully sending him where he belongs!

As a professional and licensed realtor in Costa Rica, I would like make a few statements about purchasing real estate in Costa Rica: Despite this bold scam that has been going on for many years and has yet to be stopped, this is an exception and a rare one. It is otherwise not dangerous or risky to purchase real estate in Costa Rica - IF - you follow the same laws and principles you would in your own country. First and foremost, NEVER purchase something you have not seen! To my knowledge, none of the people who have purchased these lots had visited the area or seen the properties prior to purchasing them. Second, always work with a recommended and licensed realtor - there is a reason why they are licensed and have established a reputation. And third, the golden rule: If it is too good to be true...then it IS too good to be true! The offered prices (usually under US$10,000) are far cheaper then anything else you could find around here and are certainly attractive and easy to purchase with a credit card.

The perpetuator, the seller, Mr Michael Leu, and perhaps his surrogates promotes and sells lots located just outside the Puerto Viejo area near Margarita - Sixaola. Weunderstand that he also runs a similar operation on the other coast near Jaco. The lots are mostly promoted as 1.75 acre ocean view lots. He usually sells them individually, sometimes 2 or 3 at a time and at other times has sold the ENTIRE block of over 100 lots to individual "investors"!

The lots may have been sold via the mail system prior to the existence of the Internet. In recent years, they have been sold on EBAY, his own web site CRLANDINVEST.COM (which seems to have been taken down as of 2010_07), numerous auction sites, and many other real estate by owner web sites. Our agency has received a number of requests from unknown victims to "resell" their properties - only to be informed of this scam.

The lots are promoted as having ocean view. No properties in that area have ocean view.

The lots are promoted as ready to build with "nearby" electricity, roads and septic sewer systems in place. There is no electricity, there are no roads, there is no subdivision, there are no septic sewage systems, the land is raw jungle and sometimes very steep.

We checked with the local municipality and they have no knowledge of such a development. We checked with all the neighbors - including those on the supposed land survey - and none have ever heard of such a development - or such a neighbor!

Despite many victims that fly down to locate their investment once they have made the final payment - none have ever found the lots. Topographers have been hired - neighbors have been harassed - some even sued - and yet no buyer has ever ended up with what they purchased. We have asked Mr Michael Leu to come down and show us the lots, or send someone down that knows them - but we have been ignored. He has never done so - not for us and not for any of his buyers and he has blocked the emails addresses from angry folks trying to contacting him.

The "title" that the seller awards his buyers is a Quit Claim Deed in the US. Absolutely no legal Costa Rican paperwork, contract or sales document is provided. Buyers arrive in Costa Rica with apparent "proof" of their purchase with paperwork that is meaningless in this country. He has been presenting as proof that his title exists –a Stewart Title Guarantee.  Stewart Title has been contacted and they have no such record of Mr Leu’s Title Guarantee.

The seller does provide a reference to a large titled property in the name of his corporation and a land survey, but this is most likely a fraud and it does not reflect the property that has been purchased. We have recently hired a licensed professional topographer to study the subject “planos” or land surveys.  The report clearly demonstrates serious inconsistencies with the claimed location of the properties versus their original location – and further demonstrates that the seller’s “registered land” invalidates or sits on top of  at least seven other legitimate land owners.

Since the transaction amounts are usually under US$10,000, it is often not worthy of the victim to pursue the claim legally as it can be expensive and tiresome. The seller is playing between 2 legal systems and somehow falling between the cracks of both - somehow evading law enforcement to stop his deceitful activities.

We have tried to contact Mr Leu about his activities. He did reply - only to say that he was under investigation and he could not discuss anything - prior to blocking my email address from contacting him again. Since then we have been unsuccessful in contacting him. However, we have received many threatening emails and telephone calls - informing us that we will be sued for "defaming" him. At first we took him seriously, but soon realized this is just a planned tactic of his to try to scare off his adversaries. He has recently been sending to all his “clients” that question his motives – a document supposedly saying that I – am the person defaming him and spreading false information – and occupying his land.  Upon review of that “lawsuit” and accusation, neither my name nor any valid finca numbers are presented.  At first we took him seriously, but soon realized this is just a planned tactic of his to try to scare off his adversaries.