One group chat on WhatsApp has grown to 120 people, some of them prominent people in their home country of Turkey.
They didn’t all know each other in the beginning, but as investors who bought homes in Baltimore through Miami company Property Invest USA, they’re all trying to figure out what to do now after the company stopped making rental payments. They’re learning some of their properties, all located in distressed neighborhoods, are dilapidated; many, too, are without tenants.
Part of their reason for buying the properties was that they believed American systems wouldn’t allow such a mess to happen. And, along the same lines, they’re wondering if any regulatory or law enforcement agencies will do anything about it.
“We got scammed and we are kindly and urgently asking for your help to find a way to stop them,” read one message submitted online to the FBI.
There’s no indication that an investigation has been launched. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment, saying they do not confirm or deny investigations.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office confirmed they had recently received complaints about Property Invest USA that “highlighted serious concerns which we are reviewing.” Like the federal prosecutors, the office declined to confirm or deny the existence of any investigations.
For Baltimore’s neighborhoods, at stake is the potential further deterioration of blocks already sagging under abandonment and disinvestment.
Property Invest USA’s…
