An international criminal syndicate is having operatives pose as owners of vacant land and approaching Realtors to sell ‘their’ land. It happened to me this week! I received a text from someone claiming to be the owner of a plot of vacant land in San Rafael, asking me to sell it for them. People often text, call, and email me asking them to sell their properties, so this approach was not unusual.
I called the people to talk further about the project on my way to an appointment. I man answered and claimed to be the owner. Since I was going into an appointment, I told him I would call back later in the day. When I called back, a woman answered and claimed to be the owner. That was a red flag. Then I asked what was the lowest price she was willing to take, and she replied $250,000. I had looked at the lot, and it didn’t seem to be buildable. Plus, people had tried and failed to sell it 6 different times. I learned later in the day that the neighbor just down the hill eventually purchased the lot. She didn’t want anyone putting a house above her.
I told the supposed owner that I didn’t think the lot would sell for any more than $199,000 and she agreed to list it at that price without hesitation. That was another red flag. She suddenly dropped her listing price by 20% with barely any discussion. I was getting a weird feeling and said I would need to call back later in the day to finalize the listing agreement.
My next call was to a Realtor who lived in the neighborhood. She’s the one who told me the neighbor owned the vacant land and she had actually gotten the same text! The Realtor called the real owner who was shocked and surprised that someone was pretending to be her so they could sell the land and collect the proceeds. Apparently, this has been happening a lot and title companies are on the alert. I spoke with my trustee title officer, Courtnee Filian of Old Republic Title who told me they are getting all kinds of alerts about this scam originating from an international criminal syndicate.
What they do is present fake identification when it comes time to sign documents for title companies. The land is vacant, so there is nobody at the property to object. The title gets recorded, and money is transferred to the supposed owners Often, they are overseas, and once that money is gone, it’s gone for good. My scammer said she was in Maryland. No doubt she would be traveling abroad when the time came to sign documents for the title company.
When the time came for me to call back, I decided to text instead. I texted, “Sorry but I won’t be able to help you with your land sale. I typically don’t sell vacant land, it’s not my specialty.” I have sold land before and I probably will again, but not representing a scammer.
You might be thinking, why not call the FBI? Engage with them further and try to ensnare them! To which I say, no chance, I am no hero. Maybe if I was a 20 something without a family or anything to risk. The last thing I need is to try to put some criminal away, and then have them come after me. I’ll let someone else step up and be the hero on this one. In the meantime, my Realtor friend made a post on a private Marin County Realtor Facebook page, plus we are discussing this issue within our Coldwell Banker brokerage. The title companies all know about it. At this point I think everyone is aware of the scam, so we are shutting the door on it in Marin County.