Case study · Due Diligence
Real Auction, Unverified Middleman
Before paying a deposit on a distressed property, a bidder asked us to check the auction, the account and the person who brought the deal.
- Auction & impersonation fraud
- Property & title irregularity
- reserve price band verified
- ₹3–5 Crreserve price band verified
- client questions answered before deadline
- 5 of 5client questions answered before deadline
- auction rounds reconciled
- 3auction rounds reconciled
- unverified link isolated
- 1unverified link isolated
01The situation
The auction was real and so was the bank account. The man who brought the deal could not be traced to either.
A private buyer was offered a property being sold through an insolvency liquidation auction. The approach came through an intermediary who said he worked for the liquidator, along with instructions to deposit earnest money.
How it came to us
A prospective bidder was approached by an intermediary and asked to deposit earnest money into a stated account.
02How it worked
- 01Risk tested: impersonation around auctions, where a fake intermediary or substituted account captures a bidder's deposit.
- 02The auction notices, the liquidator's appointment and the deposit account were checked against official sources.
- 03The intermediary's identity, presence and link to the liquidator were tested independently.
- 04The property's reserve price history was reviewed for warning signs.
Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.
- The organisation
- Channels & documents
- Cleared / genuine
How it was hidden
Not applicable; this was a preventive check.
03The challenge
Confirm, before the deadline, that the auction, the liquidator and the account were genuine, and test the intermediary's claimed role.
What made it hard
- Bid deadline pressure
- Dependence on public records
- An unverifiable individual at the centre of the approach
Red flags that were there to see
- Intermediary not traceable to the liquidator
- Liquidator's website offline
- Reserve price cut in three successive rounds
04Our approach
- Workstream 01
Insolvency and corporate records
Confirmed the corporate debtor's status and the liquidator's appointment.
- Workstream 02
Process document review
Matched auction notices and terms across rounds.
- Workstream 03
Account validation
Confirmed the deposit account independently and over time.
- Workstream 04
Background check on the intermediary
Identity, presence and claimed affiliation.
The breakthrough
The auction, the liquidator and the account all checked out, which isolated the single weak link: an intermediary who could not be connected to the liquidator at all.
05What we found & did
- The property was genuinely under auction by the appointed liquidator.
- The deposit account was genuine and consistent across rounds.
- Nothing adverse was found on the debtor or the property.
- Repeated reserve-price cuts signalled weak demand and the need for title checks.
- Round 1
- 100
- Round 2
- 82
- Round 3
- 72
Indexed to round 1 = 100
06The impact
The bidder received a clear go or no-go basis before committing money, with the advice to deal with the liquidator directly and pay only into the account named in the official process document.
- reserve price band verified
- ₹3–5 Crreserve price band verified
- client questions answered before deadline
- 5 of 5client questions answered before deadline
- auction rounds reconciled
- 3auction rounds reconciled
- unverified link isolated
- 1unverified link isolated
07Lessons for your business
The controls that would have stopped this, or caught it sooner:
- Pay auction deposits only to the account in the official process document.
- Deal with the liquidator directly, not through intermediaries.
- Verify the insolvency professional's registration and appointment.
- Treat repeated reserve cuts as a prompt for title diligence.
~₹5 Crundue benefit quantified
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- Procurement reconstruction
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- Digital forensics
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- Market intelligence
Client names and identifying details are withheld to protect confidentiality. Specific references and client experiences can be shared on request, with the client’s consent.
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