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No doubt, Costa Rica is a beautiful place which abounds in opportunities and it appears to be one of the leading jurisdictions for U.S. expatriates to settle down in. Unfortunately, too many of these expatriates are expatriates because they were caught in the U.S. committing some sort of scam or fraud, or committing tax evasion. And so, it is a notoriously corrupt little country, with at least as many scammers as Belize, Antigua and Nevis.

Visiting Americans usually assume that Costa Rica has similar adverse possession laws to those of U.S., which typically requires 10 years or longer of open and blatant use of land to establish any legal rights.

However, Costa Rica has laws which give squatters immediate permanent rights, and there is simply no way to get them off the property once they are on, other than to pay them off.

With this law in mind, the scam is simple:

The Costa Rica Realtor approaches Americans and sells them beautiful beachfront land, and a top price. When they return at a later date to visit, or develop the land, he the agent tells them that unfortunately squatters showed up (which he kindly arranged) on the property, and there is nothing either he or the courts can do to get them off.

Then, out of the kindness of his heart he will buy the land back at a nominal sum, perhaps as low as 10% (which the Americans may take, as the land is now completely worthless with the squatters on it).

Then, the salesman moves the squatters off the land, once again leaving it vacant, and repeats the process. The local economy and the salesman are enriched by this transaction, and the American go back the States wishing they had never heard of Costa Rica.

This is big business in Costa Rica, just like the Nigerian Central Bank letter is the 3rd biggest industry in Nigeria.

Costa Rican authorities are asking users of internet banking to be wary of being scammed, keeping a close watch on activity in their account and keeping their password secure, to avoid being the next victim.

According to figures released by the Investigación Judicial (OIJ) more than 400 people have been victims of "Click here", losing more than ˘700 million colones (us$1.4 million dollars) from their bank account to scam artists. However, that figure may be as high as double that.

Jorge Rojas, director of the OIJ, said that at one state bank alone more than ˘120 million colones has been lost, though he would not reveal the name of the bank.

Authorities fear that the number of internet scams and thefts will increase over the holiday season, especially with the wave of "aguinaldo" - Christmas bonus - that is currently being paid to all salaried employees.

Judicial and banking authorities have the following recommendations to avoid being a victim:

- Change your password frequently, if possible, after each visit to your online account

- Make your password hard to copy, combine letters and numbers and use upper and lower case in the combination

- Limit the access to your online account and if you have others accessing it, ensure that is only of people of absolute trust

- Do not download programs, games and other material if the source is unknown or unsolicited

- Careful of emails, the most common way of "phishing", a way of getting your personal information through an email that appears to be legitimate from your bank, asking for an update of personal information

Customers of state banks, Banco Nacional, Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Popular, have all been target of internet scams, losing millions of colones from their accounts and nobody to turn to, as the banks are not the loser, they are unwilling to come to the aid of their victims.

Although customers have charged the banks for the losses, saying that it should be the bank's responsibility to provide proper security, the banks have said that any losses suffered from online scams is not their responsibility and leaves the customers to file charges with the OIJ to recover their losses.

So far the customers of private banks have not been targeted, or at least there have been no public reports of losses there.

Remember how hard it has been to save and don't be a victim to fraud artists who are looking to cash in on a quick buck or colon by taking advantage of your trusting nature.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2006

The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service teamed with the U.S. Postal Inspectors, Department of Commerce Inspector General, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Costa Rican Judicial Police (OIJ) in a joint investigation culminating in the May 16 arrest in Costa Rica of five individuals allegedly involved in a sweepstakes fraud targeting elderly U.S. citizens and residents. The scam reportedly netted over $13 million.

The five suspects, Giuseppe Pileggi, Hernan Kankrini, and U.S. citizens Martin Kalchstein, Brian Wall Coyle, and Michael Mangarella, were arrested on May 16 on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy. Mangarella is also wanted in Nevada for lewd conduct with a child under fourteen.

Diplomatic Security spent several hundred hours investigating this case, including acting as liaison among US law enforcement and the Costa Rican Judicial Police; working with Judicial Police in locating the fugitives and the "boiler rooms" in which the scams were run, interviewing witnesses, tracking subjects, conducting record checks in Costa Rica pertaining to these cases, and participating in the execution of the search/arrest warrant issued by Costa Rican authorities.

The Costa Rican Judicial Police and the Costa Rican Attorney General’s office executed search warrants at 17 residences and call centers where fraud operations were either conducted or the men lived. The suspects are expected to be held pending the outcome of the U.S. request to Costa Rica for their extradition.

Richard Griffin, Assistant Secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said that the "outstanding support of the Costa Rican Judicial Police – particularly Director General Rojas – was vital to this investigation. More than 120 Costa Rican Judicial Police agents participated in both the surveillance phase and Costa Rican executions of the provisional arrest warrants in this operation."

Diplomatic Security is a worldwide law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. Department of State with special agents assigned to U.S. diplomatic missions overseas and field offices throughout the United States. Diplomatic Security special agents conduct passport and visa fraud investigations worldwide and are responsible for security at 285 U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.