Signature fraud over Paris flats costs owner over €1 million

A property owner in France claims he has been left more than €1 million out of pocket after fraudsters digitally ‘stole’ his signature and transferred his shares in two Parisian flats to themselves.

Shunfei Pu, 35, owns two flats in Paris’ upmarket 16th arrondissement through shares in a société civile immobilière (a non-trading company that owns property, often shortened to SCI).

He set up an SCI in January 2022 on the advice of two brothers who are property dealers and sold him the flats. They were also listed as members of the SCI.

In July of that year however, all of the shares were transferred to the two brothers – in effect causing him to lose ownership of the properties.

The brothers are accused of having digitally copied the signature he made to buy the properties, and used it to confirm the transfership of shares to themselves.

Signature was exact copy, digitally stolen

Forensic studies and handwriting analysis reportedly show that the signature used to sign off on the transfer was not a simple forgery, but an exact replica of the Shunfei’s signature as used when he bought the properties.

When overlaid, the two signatures aligned perfectly – handwritten signatures will always show tiny derivations.

“This is not a handwritten signature, but a digital copy and paste,” said the man’s lawyer to Le Figaro.

“It's too easy to steal fortunes like this. All you have to do to find the signature is download the articles of association. And the registry doesn't check [the signatures],” said the victim.

He is now taking legal action to annul the transfer, with proof that he did not sign off on the transaction. A verdict is expected in March.

Living in fear

In addition to losing – hopefully only temporarily – ownership of the two properties, Shunfei says he is living in fear and claims there have been two attempted break-ins to his home – and that during the second he saw one of the fraudsters.

He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and says he fears another break-in or possibly more violent attack.

The property dealing brothers who operate out of the Val-d’Oise department in the suburbs of Paris are already known to investigators.

They are charged with 34 cases of fraud, all using the exact same method – convincing people to set up an SCI to manage properties the brothers sold to them, before using the signatures from these property sales to transfer the shares to themselves.

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