More than 5,000 Muscovites have lost their life savings or homes in real estate scams over the past several years, said a deputy head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Main Administration (GUVD).

"There are over 5,000 aggrieved parties in criminal cases that have been opened on fraud charges - primarily people with low incomes and housing problems," said Maj. Gen. Ivan Glukhov, who is also head of the GUVD Main Investigation Department. 

According to the GUVD, 21 companies running real estate scams have been closed down in the capital.

Gen. Glukhov said the most common scams include selling apartments to multiple buyers and illegal property transfers. He said there was a marked increase in such cases in 2006.

The officials said there are many difficulties in investigating such cases.

"In particular, it is the large number of people who have been cheated, with hundreds to be questioned [in eachcase]," Gen. Glukhov said.