property i’investment’ scams

Hello to all reading , we are newbies ! [biggrin] Unfortunately we believe we have been ‘almost’ victims of a proprety ‘investment’ scam.[hmm]
Without saying too much at this stage, is anybody able to provide guidance or infromation on money laundering property scams. ( not nigerian but in europe) We advertise on the internet and have a beautiful and unique property for sale, ( advertiosed on the internet ) due to our personal circumstances we went along and looked into what we were being told, we spent well over £500 and travelled to 2 different european countires and then when we finally met with ‘an associate’ ( we never did meet up with th actual person who was wanting to purchase the property)
We are not stupid people, we own 4 investment properties and run a successful business so this scam seemed on the face of it very genuine …until we smelt a very smelly rat. As I am very ill, my family and myself have suffered terribly over thes past weeks and I want to know as much as I can so that others can be warned against these hateful people [grrr] who only want to gain from their illegal trade and at any cost, including another’s health.