A land scam in Uzbekistan has been stopped just in time - after a farmer tried to sell nearly double the land he actually owned.

In the Fergana Region, the officers of Uzbekistan’s State Security Service and the Department for Combating Economic Crimes uncovered an attempted illegal land deal in the Kushtepa district, where a farmer reportedly tried to pass off a 3.7-hectare plot as 7 hectares to a potential buyer, The Caspian Post reports via Uzbek media.

Investigators say the head of the farming enterprise attempted to convince the client that the land area was rather larger than it actually was. For arranging the transfer of the plot into the buyer’s name, he demanded a staggering $20,000 along with 100 million Uzbek soums.

The scheme was foiled during a special operation carried out by Uzbekistan’s State Security Service and the Department for Combating Economic Crimes. The suspect was detained while receiving $15,000 through an intermediary - part of the agreed sum.

A criminal case has been opened, and an investigation is ongoing.

Officials stressed that land is a strategic national resource, warning that illegal transactions pose serious risks to the country’s economic and food security.

Citizens are being urged to report similar cases via the short hotline number 1520, with authorities guaranteeing confidentiality.

Earlier, attempts at illegal land sales were thwarted in Tashkent and the Samarkand region. Fraudsters promised to arrange land documents through high-ranking contacts in cadastral authorities.