A man was convicted of selling a house he did not own in the Montserrat neighborhood

In addition to the prison sentence, the Metropolitan Court ordered him to pay $19,000 because he asked the victim for $20,000 to buy a house.

by Alexander Pineda
December 15, 2023 – 10:19

A man was sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated fraud after he was found to have sold a home that did not belong to someone else for $20,000 in the Montserrat neighborhood of San Salvador.

According to information received from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Efrain Antonio Ruiz did not have any relations with the real owners of the house, and they had no intention of selling it.

The fraud occurred in 2018, when the victim contacted Ruiz, who was dedicated to selling homes, to buy a property and told him that he had a house for sale in the aforementioned neighborhood.

For this action, Ruiz requested an advance payment of $7,120 to correct the paperwork and gave the victim an advance receipt. The remaining $12,880 was then handed over to the scammer.

When the buyer attempted to exercise ownership of the home, the real owners arrived to explain that the property had not been sold and was not for sale.

The victim sought to contact Ruwaiz to retrieve the money, but he no longer returned calls or heard from him again. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the accused was arrested last November.