• The Land Banking scammers have generally shifted tactics and now tend to promote offshore land as 'incredible investments'
• If it's Brazil, Turkey or Cyprus it will probably be holiday development land
• Coconut plantations in Brazil is also one of the recent cons
• If Ukraine it's likely to be farmland
• Teak plantations in Costa Rica and Biofuel land in Indonesia
• Please stop and think if you get called by these scammers because you're being setup with 100% certainty to buy something for say £10,000 that's probably worth nearer £100 (if indeed the scammers actually sell you the land, ever heard of fake paperwork?)
• DO NOT TRUST ANYBODY OR ANY FIRM THAT COLD CALLS YOU ABOUT AN INVESTMENT (land, stocks & shares, futures, options, Carbon Credits, or Gold mines etc)
• 99.9% of them are scammers and thieves, however polite, charming and knowledgeable they come across

If you're unsure about anything, and I mean anything, feel free to email me, Alex Green (apg@learnmoney.co.uk) and I will tell you if you're being setup or not.

• I don't charge
• I will never ask you for money, and
• I have nothing to sell you

Helping you to keep hold of your money and stop it being stolen by the scammers is my motivation.

• Agricultural land is presently priced around £3,000 an acre
• The land banking company will approach a farmer or landowner and offer to buy 5-20 acres at well over market rate which normally means they strike a deal
• The company will then split the land up into smaller parcels and try to sell them for around £7,500 - £25,000 per plot (1 plot is usually 0.1 of an acre)

• The local Parish Council - Find who to speak to via the local council's website. Ask them about the land, its chances of being granted planning permission and if anything is known about the land banking company
  
  
• The local press - Land banking firms usually buy Green Belt land which they try to convince their clients has a good chance of being rezoned. As it's green belt land you can be sure the locals will be up in arms about it being developed and will protest. The local press are sure to pick up on this story so check with them
  
  
• The local estate/land agent - Try to a speak to a land agent rather than an estate agent and ask them about the land in question. Find out if they have any views on the piece of land and the land banking company. It is highly likely that they know all about the plot and its chances of ever getting planning permission
  
  
• The local council - contact the planning department and ask them what they know about the land. Often they will already have issued a statement usually along the lines of ''The prospects of the land's greenbelt status changing in the foreseeable future is highly unlikely' which is a polite way of saying 'no chance'

• Great looking website - Good, professionally designed website and expensive glossy brochures
  
  
• Flashy company name - Often a flashy sounding name like 'The Consolidated Real Estate Partnership' - many land banking firms love to use the word 'partnership' in the company's name
  
  
• Website that tells you nothing- Look hard at the information on the website and it's odds-on it will tell you nothing about the company or its people. Te reason is simple - there is nothing to tell you about the company because it has no history so chances are all you'll see is official government press releases about how much housing is needed for the country etc
  
  
• Pushy salesmen - Extremely polite and seemingly knowledgeable salesmen. Although they can turn nasty if they spend time with you on the phone but then you decline their offer to invest). Plus, once they think you might be interested they will probably call many times a week
  
  
• Reserved plots of land - Very quick to say they'll 'reserve' you a plot of land often for as little as £100 - £500
  
  
• The price - The plots cost between £5,000 - £25,000 but chances are you'll be told that all the cheaper plots have been sold (they've got to create an illusion that this is a hot deal and you've got to be quick)
  
  
• Millions of new houses needed in the UK - On their website plenty of talk and news reports about how the UK needs 100,000s if not more houses every year - many of the sites make this point time and time again almost to the point of brainwashing
  
  
• Marketed to the man-in-the-street - Work out who the website is marketed to, ie large property investors/companies, institutions, or the man-in-the-street. If it's the latter then beware because sophisticated property developers and investors certainly would laugh at the company's claims
  
  
• Plenty of happy smiley people - Does the website have lots of flashy photos of smiley happy people, houses being built or architects hard at work - if so it's a big red flag
  
  
• Easy money for the little guy - The websites often promote that in the past only the very rich could make money out of property but now everyone can, including you!
  
  
• Does the company's address stack up - Many land banking firms don't want their clients to know where they're actually located so use a mail drop as their official address. So Google the address and if other companies come up in the results with the same address it's more than likely a mail drop. And this is yet another big red flag as respectable companies don't use mail drops

Common Sense alert -

Often the best way to shield yourself and your money from scammers is to use nothing but common sense.

So if you're located outside of the UK common sense suggests buying potential development land from people and companies you don't know without ever visiting the site in question is pure madness.