According to the Federal Notary Chamber, the number of apartment scams has been growing in Russia.
In all, notaries recorded 94 attempts to strike illegal apartment deals in 25 Russian regions in 2017. In 2018, the number of such cases reached 150 in 34 regions. In the period between January 2019 and October 2019, there were 186 such cases in 30 regions, RBC news agency reports.
Most scams have been recorded in Bashkortostan and the Sverdlovsk Region. They are followed by the Novosibirsk and Rostov regions. Frauds often get caught after notaries address law enforcement agencies.