The Latest Real Estate Scam – Be Careful Out There

I just off the phone with a guy who initially sounded like a telemarketer, but claimed that he wanted me to list some acreage he owns about 90 minutes north of me to pay for an upcoming surgery. He must have done a little bit of homework, because he got the name right of the owner of the property. The only problem is that he claims to be the same guy that bought the parcel in 1972.

Well, that’s not the only problem. The actual owner of the property, meaning the guy who bought it in 1972, died about 10 years ago. Further, he was a public figure who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. I’m certain that I was not speaking to him. And I wasn’t speaking to an heir.

I’m not exactly sure, but I think the crux of the scam is to do everything remotely, get the property listed under false pretenses, and phish the buyer’s good faith deposit once a transaction is promulgated. An awful lot would have to go right (well, wrong, depending on who you’re rooting for here) for this to work out for the scammer, because he’d have to bamboozle a listing agent, a buyer agent, a buyer, a victim seller’s attorney, and a buyer’s attorney. That’s an awful lot of bamboozle.

And yet, here we are.

A few weeks ago, one of my agents had to withdraw a listing for vacant land when it became clear that her “client” was not in fact the owner of the property. In the past several months I have spoken to at least 2 other agents with the same story. What a colossal waste of time.

Here were the red flags:

• When I answered the phone, the person said “Hi Philip, how are you?” which has been said to me exactly 0 times in my first contact with anyone who was not a telemarketer.
• He claims to have looked me up on Zillow and been so impressed with my track record that I was the right guy for the listing. That sounds too good to be true. I’m certainly proud of my track record, and my Zillow profile isn’t shabby, but I’ve never sold anything in that market.
• Anyone old enough to buy property in 1972 would qualify for Medicare, not have to sell land to pay for surgery. And I know that Medicare only pays for 80%.
• H was calling from a Florida number, and the owner address was nowhere close to there.

Basically, nothing added up during the call, and in my search afterward it took about 10 minutes to ascertain that this was bogus.

Now, I am trying to reach the family that owns this land to be wary of any sign going up on their land.