Scams in the Real Estate Market

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Scams in the Real Estate Market

We just had another scam hit our area.

This one is where an out of the country buyer tries to ratify a contract and "snail" mail a deposit to our escrow company.

Next they cancel the contract (based on HOA docs) and try to get the escrow company to wire deposit back...

(all before his original bad check clears)

With the ease of the Internet and the ability to write a contract with a client anywhere in the world. Throw in digital signatures where we can get it ratified within hours, we as agents and brokers have to be on our guard for such scams.

Charles McDonald

Associate BROKER at RE/MAX Assured Properties, Licensed to sell Real Estate in Virginia

(main) 434-515-1585 (cell) 434-981-1585 (fax) 866-527-9526

Brought to you by that guy who sells Charlottesville VA Real Estate

Search for Charlottesville Real Estate 22901 or Search for Crozet Real Estate 22932 in one great place!

Posted by Charlottesville Real Estate - Your Trusted Broker Charles McDonald on 07/22/2010 06:59 AM

Comments (138)

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Originally posted at: Charlottesville Real Estate: Scams in the Real Estate Market

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138 Comments on Scams in the Real Estate Market

JUL

I think we had a similar incident here. Also beware of Craigs List rentals.

Good Morning Charles,

Thanks for the post in regard to new real estate scam. Have a great day.

Why is an escrow company returning money that hasn't cleared?

Been There! Done That! Too many of these scenarios running around. But there is usually a dead give away seen early in the exercise. When the supposed client refuses to contact the suggested Lawyer or Escrow Company directly! We've seen this multiple times here in South Central Indiana.

Thanks for pointing out an example for those that haven't experienced it yet Charles.

Jay, I did not say it worked, this is just the attempt they made...

My first thought was identidal to Jay's.

Then I thought about how many of these scam letters we get, goodness knows I get several each week and realize that

SOMEONE MUST BE FALLING FOR IT!

We were shocked when they tried this, but they keep trying

Charles said they try to get the escrow company to wire the money back. I doubt if any escrow company would wire funds back that haven't cleared.

Bill has hit the nail on the head. What escrow company would fall for this?

Ditto Jay * WIRE $$$ into escrow company's account. I have NEVER allowed money to be wired to my escrow account as they may be able to take the $$$ out in similar fashion.

I feel better Charles!

Scaring in the i-age how easy it is to scam people.

And American's thought they'd cornered the market on ingenuity...

Thanks hadn't heard of this one.

That's sorry. Hope they catch this person!

I haven't heard of this one before..thanks for making us aware and everyone must be cautious!

Thanks for the heads up on this scam - I have not heard of it yet but will be on the lookout now!

I get emails frequently-They need to call and talk to me first before I will respond.It is a shame someone is always looking to scam.

So it's crept up from Florida to you guys. It seems they try their scams here first. Maybe the sun has fried our brains. Gotta be careful ot there!

I read about this scam a couple of weeks ago, Charles. I'm glad you recognized it for was it was.

There's always someone who falls for every scam out there, sadly.

Hopefully, agents today are coming up to speed with the social media outlets where information travels very fast and came become aware of these tactics quickly when they start popping up around us. That's why it's so important for people to learn to use twitter, facebook, etc. for doing business as well.

Note to self: caution with sight-unseen "clients"

The first red flag is out of country buyers. Usually if it smells like a skunk, it is a skunk.

Ditto Charles - they are trying it in IN also however - the check is clearly a fraud there is no check number in the upper right hand corner of it to correspond with the routing numbers below!!!

Thanks for giving us the heads up, Charles. I am curious to know what percentage of people actually fall for this scam.

We had this happen to us - or at least attmpt to happen- buyer supplied fraudulent Candian drivers license, etc. Luckily - we didn't go to contract - we smelled a rat and started snoping on the web and found a postong on TRULIA about the same guy!

These scams do work. The reason? Greedy victims.

Thanks for the "head up"....

Hi Charles, Is there no end to these scams - or the people who must be falling for them ?

Charles, thanks for the post. I guess as long as there are human beings on the planet, we can be assured of "creative" individuals that will always try to take a short cut in life.

Charles, it is great to know, and so many con artists out there do this for a living. I sometimes wonder if they are too smart to be scammed by others.

Our Real Estate Commission like most states pays special attention to anything that has to do with earnest money. You want to get fined or be thrown out of the business, the easiest way is to do something unethical or unlawful with money. Especially in times of misery like now there will be a greater degree of scamming.

thanks for that tip...

knowledge is power

watching out

Congrats on the feature Charles

When this happened in our office I was shocked!

Thanks for the info. There never seems to be an end to the garbage some people will try to get away with.

A friend of mine answered an ad for a rental house in Spring and received an email back telling her that they had moved to Africa and couldn't show her the house. They told her to do a drive by and fill out an application BEFORE they would mail the keys so she could see it.... ".

I told her NOT to give them any information and instructed her to report it to the local police. She did and (of course) it was a scam. CRAZY!

I hadn't heard of this one. Thanks for the heads up.

Seems like a no-brainer with trust-account laws, but suppose there are escrow officers out there who are just too trusting. Thanks for the heads-up.

I've never had a sight unseen buyer. But if I did, I think I'd ask him.her to send me a copy of DL/passport to she if he/she was legit.

It would certainly stand to reason that all of the new lending restrictions and safe guards would make it much more difficult to fraud a lender....and, the bad guys are probably not going to stop being bad guys. So they are likely to look for new sources of "business"....escrow and agents make sense to become the target du jour. Good post to keep everyone's eyes wide open.

Michelle

What will they think of next? (No, I really don't want an answer.) Good to know.

All the best, Michelle

Jay, we have had a couple try scams on us. It is amazing what they will do.

This came around Austin a few months back but evidently the Title companies had already been alerted to the possibility of the scam and did not bite. Seems like folks stay awake at night trying to figure out new ways to cheat others...

Hi Charles. Fortunately title companies are on high alert in our area.

I have received some emails from anonymous "investors." The ones that tell me that they have money then end up asking me for money.

Be alert!

put enough hooks in the water, and eventually someone will bite. Its just a numbers game, like Nigeria and the UK Lottery, etc... ad nauseum. Common sense eliminates most scams.

I actually had an out of state buyer put in an offer on a house. He went home while we negotiated. We went under contract and he mailed a personal check as escrow. Cash buyer so quick close. So what went wrong? Yup that personal check did not clear so he had to bring full contract price funds to closing and wait on escrow release. This escrow company also no longer accepts checks for closings due to a spike in phony cashiers checks. Wires only, its the smart way to go.

JUL

A scam needs a profit motive or what's the point in attempting the scam, this sounds like one cooked up overseas where they don't fully understand how escrow works here. Their thought process being that if it works in 1 out of every 1,000 attempts, it is at least a payday (albeit a small one). I seriously doubt any escrow agent here has fallen for this, but the scammer will continue to try until he/she realizes that it's not going to work. Scams perpetrated against the individual (non agent generic homeowner or FSBO) are more likely to work but even then, rarely.

Charles - Thanks for the heads up. I haven't heard one here but I can mention it at the next office meeting to warn everybody.

Agreed. The criminals are far more creative and inventive than law enforcement. It is unfortunate that they don't harness their energy and efforts into more ethical entreprenurial tasks because they would probably be hugely successful if they did. I wrote a post about a similar topic several months ago on my active rain lethbridge homes for sale blog and was surpised to learn that my little community is not immune to this sort of scams.

Robert May

I can't imagine how they could find someone to represent them to even write an offer! I would think they would appear shady from the beginning.....

There are lots of variations on this theme out there!

Earnest money deposits (as noted here but many real estate companies hold the earnest money and refund them because they aren't as aware as the Escrow and it never gets that far);
rental deposits on nice homes (also can run in the thousands of dollars);
buying stuff online with bad checks, money orders, etc., (they get the goods and don't pay)
secret shoppers (they send you fake cashiers checks to buy something as a secret shopper and expect you to send part of the savings back to them in cash;
Foreign currency (for example, $1,000 "Jamaican Dollars" is currently worth only $11.70 so they send you a $10,000 Jamaican Cashiers check to buy a short sale, cancel the transaction and when they get their check back, for $10,000 US dollars, it is now worth 854,618.57 Jamaican Dollars or 8500% increase based on ignorance of international currency exchange rates not fraud!
who knows how many others!

Doesn't suprise me, what suprises me is the % of the scams that go through...

If that happened I would be changing escrow companies. That would be some real poor execution of duties by an escrow company.

These creative geniuses just ought to get a real job and contribute to society instead of scam.

Some pretty lame scammers..

Common sense needs to prevail and being over anxious to land a deal can get you into trouble. If someone wants to move that fast the red flags need to go up.

If it doesn't smell right...

And, I still can't believe escrow companies and attorneys that wire return money with cleared funds.

Who is sending back the checks to these scammers? My title company holds all moneys until it has cleared before issuing refunds.

And as far as mistaking currency exchanges between countries so that the scammer gets more money back.....again....why would a title company not be aware of exchange rates, etc.

Kinda the revised version of I want to buy your stuff on Craigslist. Thank you for the heads up.

I went through this recenlty. I received an email via Trulia that So and So had found you on Trulia. "Great," I think, "an internet lead." So I respond and the person is very vague about what exactly they are looking for. So now my radar is up but I want to see where this goes. What they wanted was for me to send a bunch of random listings so they could pick one and then run the scam. I recieved this after playing along.

"Thanks so much for your email; I will like to offer $475,000.00 on MLS#R A430040A because I love the curb appeal of this property, please send me the contract use docusign format for me to sign and return immediately this will be my retirement home and it will be a cash buy 1. I will want to close on 20th August, 2010 2. I want to put down $5,000.00 as the Earnest money 3. Additional $150,000.00 should be put aside towards the closing but not to be added on the contract until all closing payment are completed My legal name is Noriko Ike of XXXX Sheppard Avenue, Toronto Ontario Canada M3N 2J1 and I am single, I will not be in Canada before the closing date to wire the funds to the your attorney so I will advice you to send me your attorney information for a check to be drawn to give enough time for check clearance since I wont be in Canada to wire funds for closing. My account manager Mr. Perry Owen will Issue payment in US Funds $155,000.00USD for the earnest money and the down payment for the property payable to your attorney, the check will deliver to your attorney. My account manager Perry Owen can be reach at: 1-XXX-598-5943 Please I need the following information of your attorney immediately Closing Law Firm Name................................................... Law Firm Address....................................................... Law Firm Telephone...................................................... Lawyer's Name........................................................... Regards, Mr. Yukio Ishikawa

I changed some of the information to X's in order to avoid an innocent person getting phone calls, etc. However, I found out that there are lawyers in Canada getting calls about these scam because their names are being used but they have nothing to do with the scam.

I was 100% sure this was a scam so I searched for the person's "real" name, Noriko Ike. I found several postings regarding the same name and very similar verbage. All we can do is report this to the Trulia folks at customerService@trulia.com. They will block the account but that is it.

The OP is just another way for all of us to stay informed and look out for each other. Thanks for bringing it up.

I've seen people do this with fake cashier checks. The check clears the bank but then bounces about a month later. By then the perpetrator is long gone.

We have had this show up in Tennessee as well, the Association of Realtors set out a warning recently!

Translators are bombarded by such scams: a "client" wants to send you upfront a cashier's check for more than you ask, but you have to send some amount to their business partner or whoever... My remedy is easy: I tell them that even the cashier's check must clear before I move my finger - works 100%, never hear from such "client" again

Wow, love the Unibomber pic to boot!

I had a lady contact me wanting to buy, showed her property, then she said they are waiting for their house to sell and wanted to lease option. OK and they wanted high end horse property. Great but something wasn't quite right.... I found them a place then she handed me a $10,000 check for the deposit, but I was to hold until she told me otherwise. I put it in our trust account in the office she called a few days later said it was good, but I wasn't going to put it in our account it would go to the agent representing the leasor. We met up and I handed it to the other agent. Then get a call 24 hours later they can't lease now and can they get their money back, well the other agent didn't cash it either and she returned their check. So oh well that scam crashed pretty hard!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Charles. Also, in the new Realtor Magazine is an article about 5 new scams in the Real Estate industry that everybody should be aware of.

This has been around here for years.

Most every escrow company I have ever dealt with (15 plus) always check this before sending out a wire.

However, I could see how a poorly run office could get caught with their pants down.

There will always be scams in real estate (Unfortunately)

I think a worse scam is when people take out multiple mortgages on a property, you want to talk about a scam...how about 200,000 in mortgages or more versus 5,000 in an escrow acct.

15 years loan originating exp. - Mortgage referrals always accepted!

David Schaffer

America's Home Consultants

(954) 482-8691 Broward

(786) 512-8372 Dade

www.americashomeconsultants.org

WHAT??? There are scams in real estate? Say it ain't so. Thanks for the reminder. Tis a shame that this is only one of many many out there and timely post on it helps us all.

We have been seeing that one here also.

Yup me too. I took the bait hook line and sinker. Something smelled fishy so I Googled the name of the attorney in Canada and found a slew of scam alerts. I feel bad that I didn't figure it out earlier, because the seller thought a deal was imminent. Scam letter follows. Note his initial offer was $17,000 less than asking price. Very cagey.

I was delighted with your reply to my property purchase request and the property listing provided. I am interested in the property with MLS #: 4xxxxx and Price: $309,900. I would like to counter offer $293,000. I love the curb appeal of this property.

I am in talk with my Attorney and relocation manager. If my counter offer accepted, Please forward me your attorney's payment information to enable my attorney draw up a check for the earnest and downpayment. I hope to visit in 4 weeks. I want to put down $5,000.00 Earnest money and $150,000 down as payment.
Please forward your purchase contract agreement in DocuSign format, DocuSign format is an electronic way of signing document, as this make for easy access and signing. And for the contract, my legal name is Eiji Suzuki of 2000 Sheppard Avenue, Toronto Ontario Canada M3N 2J1.

My Canadian Rep Mr. Edward Brown Esq ( www.casselsbrocks.com ) will issue payment in US Funds $155,000.00USD for the earnest money and the downpayment for the property payable to your attorney. Please forward your attorney payment information as below-
Contact Name :
Check Payable to :
Contact Address:/Physical Adress :
Phone :

Hope to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Suzuki Eiji suzuki@japan.com

Thanks for the post, Charles. It reminds us to stay on guard.

I get scammed all the time with the ads I place online. I decided to answer one buyer inquiry which seemed valid and now they are using my email for all kinds of solicitations.

I hate and wish these people would learn how to make an honest living.

I had a variation of this happen off craigslist with a rental. They wanted to wire me money for the deposits PLUS an additional amount to cover the shipping charges for their belongings that were coming from over seas. I would just have to pay the shipper myself when he showed up.....never let it get that far. Red flags all over that one. Just for fun I contacted the guy and told him in order to proceed I had to speak to him. Never heard another word!

Charles: The simplest old scams in the world seem to work if done quickly and repeatedly enough. I assume that 1,000 agents got that scam letter or maybe 10,000. If they hit only 1 or 2 times they make a profit.

I'm still waiting for my $10 Million dollars from the Assistant to Idi Amin from the Ugandan treasury. All I have to do is send him $2,000 to show good faith.

Then, I'll buy investment property, too!

Absolutely amazing that these people have time to waste, and so it must be they're finding success somewhere which is scary

Tons of scams are going on - we all need to be on high alert. A lady on craigslist tried to rent my daughter a home she didn't even own. It sounded like too good of a deal so I researched it and found out it was a total scam. And if I get one more email from someone wanting to give me millions of dollars from someone who passed away in another country I think I will scream!

Charles - It sounds like the "Nigerian" scam, pumped up on steroids. I just noted Tom's comment about waiting for his $10 million dollars from the Assistant to Idi Amin. . .ME TOO:-)

I had a similar incident via Trulia as Richard Hoffart (Beverly-Hanks & Associates) had mentioned in his comment. I exchanged a couple of emails with the scammers then ignored him knowing he was a scammers. You have to have some common sense in this world.

They are trying it in Columbus Oh too. Here is the latest scam notice we received from our Board... Fraudulent Buyer (Takeuchi Keigo, Noriko Ike, Fukuhara Kuzuhiko, Eiji Suzuki, etc.) - CBR has had several reports now of someone emailing about high end homes for sale. These agents have spoken with other agents also affected by this same scam. Three different agents received the same bank statement from CIBC showing a balance in excess of $3 million. Many names have been used in addition to those listed above. The buyer requests that you hire an attorney. The scam seems to be that this buyer will send a check in excess of what's needed for the earnest money deposit and then request the difference sent back. The check bogus. If you receive an email inquiry - more than likely about higher end homes - do some homework before getting too excited. Google the name and/or any key phrases used in the email. (See example of bogus docs: Keigo's statement, bank letter and passport.)

Thanks for the update. The sad thing is it's all worth their while if only one person falls for it. So sad what people will do.

I think the place where these scammers might be successful is with rentals. I recently had 2 condos whose owners decided to rent rather than sell. With both of them I posted ads on Craigslist and very shortly had several e-mails from "out of country" applicants who weren't available to actually see the property, but wanted to know how much needed to be put down, so that they could have their company (which was supposedly relocating them) send me a check. Having had a former life as an HR Manager who hired and relocated a lot of employees, I realized this wasn't how corporate relocations were coordinated, and knew it was likely a scam. However, I can see how an individual owner or a realtor who hasn't done many rentals might have fallen for it.

Seems there's a new scam born every minute since we have dishonest people in the world, and unfortunately our world is getting bigger so we're subject to more scams.

Why in the world did you choose the unabomber as your clip art??? He maimed and killed people. I almost didn't read the post when I saw the picture.

Seems there's a new scam born every minute since we have dishonest people in the world, and unfortunately our world is getting bigger so we're subject to more scams.

Why in the world did you choose the unabomber as your clip art??? He maimed and killed people. I almost didn't read the post when I saw the picture.

Lynn (#6) - Yep, some people do fall for it - unfortunately it is usually those who can least afford to. We recently had a senior client that received an announcement they had won a sweepstakes drawing they had automatically entered by using a credit or debit card at Wal-Mart. Enclosed was a check for $4550 appearing to have been drawn on a Chase bank in Ohio. The winnings, a modest $45,500 required a 10% "estate" tax to be paid to the processors - located in Canada - prior to the delivery of the winnings. Instructions (by phone) were easy enough - deposit the check into your account, then go to the Wal-Mart where you won, purchase 2 money grams and send them to (insert name) in London, UK. (no address is necessary). The total payments of the money grams were $3550 - you may pay the balance with a cashier's check made to (third name) of $1000.00 to the courier that delivers the winnings to your door.

How did we get involved? The client was confused about "estate" tax and thinking it had something to do with her real estate, she came to us for clarification.

I don't do any out of the country. These are not unusual. We get multiple emails like this per week. Add to these the ones that have had a tragedy and need your help to get large sums released that they will split with you.

They must be in my office with certified funds before we know there is money in the deal. These scams are extremely profitable for them.

Knowledge is power; thanks for sharing!

If it isn't one thing, it's another. Thanks for the warning.

Why would the title company return a escrow deposit on a check that haven't been cleared?

Does anyone know if there is an agency, local or national that this can be reported. It's great that we alert each other about this, but maybe more can be done to prevent it from being tried and those that do are caught and prosicuted. I know it would'nt be easy, but I would rather try to do something than just accept it as part of I-life.

Any info would be great.

It sure is not getting any easier out there in there real estate world :) thanks for the post!!

Great Post!!

In response to #3; as title agent I would NEVER return funds that have yet to clear my account!!

This happens all the time. I get most of my scam requests from Trulia. They are very easy to spot.

Marcy

Richard and Roberta -

I had the same situation. A lead from Trulia from a Japanese name/email. He said he was interested in "my listing". He wanted a 3br, 3ba for $200k - $400k.

Because his email said he was interested in my listing, I sent an email asking which one. He said to contact his attorney in Canada. BIG RED FLAG!!! I checked with my broker. Apparently several agents in my office have received the same email.

Sounds like this scam is hitting as hard as the one where you are going to inherit millions from a long lost relative.

This would NEVER happen in Nevada. We are an escrow state. Escrow will never let funds go or a transaction to close unless FUNDS CLEAR...

DUH...

If this scam works it is only because people are so STUPID they let others override basic good business sense.

Shame on the escrow company if they wire the deposit back before the check clears.

These scammers will keep on trying different scams - rental properties, dogs, inheritance, etc.

We just had a similar incident in our office. Mr Eiji Suzuki contacted me as well from the Realtor.com website. I asked him a series of pertinent questions in my return email, which he did not respond to. He proceeded with another agent in my office and threatened to utilize another Realtor if this agent could not get the transfer of funds completed. This agent was somewhat in limbo on this issue, likely until today when I forwarded your post to her, as well as my entire office.. Thanks for the post. Regardless of who knows what scams are being perpetrated, it's absolutely essential that we all advise everyone when they come around - for those who don't. The Title Co's, attorneys, etc will not release the funds but what an emotional roller coaster for Sellers and a complete waste of a Realtors time!

I really appreciate this .. it's important to keep up with the endless creativity of the criminal class and most importantly to keep our fellow professionals informed when we get hit!!

You're providing a valuable service with this. The comments have been just as illuminating!!

This is the same scam that they do with just about anything. It comes out of Nigeria and it's based on a fraudulent check that clears for a couple of weeks and then your account gets charged back. It is the fact that it actually does clear your bank that these folks use to get "deposits", "shipping costs", "agent fees" and whatever else the devise to separate you drom your money. They do these from cars to houses, wtaches, rental, and anything worth more than a couple of hundred dollars. It's been happening for a long time and places where we advertise like Craigslist are the breeding ground of these crafty fish.

If its too good to be true..................

They are hitting Orlando agents with this one. Title companies do not refund uncleared checks so not sure how these scammers are getting money out of them though?

Wow! Haven't had THAT ONE yet! But thanks for the heads up! How do these people think of these things?

Charles:

It is amazing the minds of criminals right? Gotta be on our toes at all times these day. Have a great weekend!

Lisa aka @allstarmom3

I'm with Lenn - someone must be falling for these scams or they wouldn't keep sending them. Since email costs so little, even a .5% return would make money.

We had scam artists come to town many years ago and I never figured out their game. They'd make offers on the cheapest things they could find - fixers, old houses falling apart, etc. Then, with the exception of one transaction, they'd never close on them. The one time they did, the attorney's office accepted a personal check and it bounced.

We couldn't figure out what the game was, but I knew one agent who took them out to coffee to try to find out - because she knew they were making money somehow and she wanted in on it!

I feel so stupid. Mr. Cheng Liu contacted me also. Actually, he is coming to town to see me July 30 and he is interested in seeing a fewhomes that I found that fit his criteria besides of the home he previously selected. I searched his"company" in China and really looks impressive. My mistake was not going to Active Rain and read your blog.

I contacted his money man in Canada and he insisted in sending me a personal draft for $ 200,000. I told him that the funds should be wired to either a Title Company or an Escrow Company when we had an accepted offer. I even went to see the home that Mr. Cheng Liu liked to preview it for him.

He signed the purchase agreement in every place. Since I had doubts on the home that I previewed for him I sent him an email describing the home and insisting that he should see the property and approve of it before getting the full price offer accepted, opening an escrow and ordering a physical inspection.

His money man in Canada is Mr. Ben Matthewson. I thought it was an unusual name for somebody with a heavy Chinese accent. Also, the two times that I tried to contact him, we spoke briefly over the phone because both times he was in a meeting and didn't seem to know about wired funds and insisted instead in sending me a draft. He did not care if the draft was at my name.

When I spoke with the listing agent about previewing the home I told her this could be a scam but Mr. Cheng Liu had signed the contract, we checked his company over the Internet and who knows; I have sold other properties to real Buyers from the Internet. She was nice enough to show me the home, get the dogs out, prepare the home, etc. What a waste of time.

Well, should I invite Mr. Cheng Liu for lunch when he shows up? All the things that we do lately to make a buck. Unbelievable.

Isaac Bensussen-www.besthomesinlajolla.com

I get these on Trulia every week. Had fun playing with one. He gave me specific parameters and I sent him homes that were not close to the parameters. He said he will by the first one. Please send paperwork and bank information to have deposits sent by his money manager in Canada. I called his "money manager" and gave him an ear full of my opinion. Released some stress for the day.

to clarify--- as far as i understand... no check actually clears.... that phrase (clears) is a perception... not a reality... ask your bank... they may say... it will take 10 days to "clear"... but they will also tell you that if even after 60 days it bounces... your are still on the hook... my suggestion is to never accept cashiers checks... require wired funds from a recognized bank.

A timely post. I receive many inquiries I believe to be of this type, via Trulia. Since I don't bite, I couldn't say for sure. But they all appear to be bogus to me. What do you think?

Fishing from my trash bin. These are all recent emails, and all "found" me on Trulia Voices:

1) "My Name is X. I saw your profile.I intend to buy a house. Please do to get back to me."

2) "Hallo - I am making this contact to you after a careful study of your profile to inform you of my purposeful proposal which i know you will be of great help to me.

Please kindly send me
1. Your direct email address
2.Direct Contact Telephone number

I will contact you back immediately via your direct email or telephone as soon as i recieve this information from you.

3) I am looking into purchasing a property in your state. Please contact me to discuss this real estate purchase.

4) need a 4 bed room single family home to buy, in gated community.I saw your profile on trulia.com, so i decide to engage your service in aquiring a house to buy please get back to me via email.

Most of my clients are "strangers" who come to me via social media and I receive many inquiries from Trulia and my blog that are real, and are people who do buy or sell homes. But the real ones that are from out of the area generally state their purpose for coming to the Seattle area, like taking on a new job here, that I can verify.

I may have answered the 4 above with "sorry, not interested. Try another agent on Trulia". My guess is they will find someone willing to devote time on their request.

Charles, yep, the same thing here. It didn't go as far as escrow, but after checking out the name of the "buyer," I discovered that it was a scam that worked like the one you mention. We really have to be careful in this day and age. ;-)

These people never get caught since no one ever goes after them. Just like credit card faud. We are very careful, at least we believe we are, with our credit cards. Last week we had two credit cards compromised within one week. Both times American Express and Visa's fraud departments were on it and caught it almost immediately. The guy in Turkey did use about $300 worth of credit before it was picked up. Nothing will happen because the amount was too insignificant. These creeps just make it so difficult on all of us.

I must be the luckiest person in the world! At least every other day I get notified that I have won a lottery, an inheritance, a sick old lady who wants to send me her fortune, and ask me to help her give it "to the poor" or a lawyer who wants to split the bounty left from one of his clients who died along with his entire family... Darn! I am busy selling real estate, maybe one of these days I find the time to entertain all those wonderful offers...

Antonio

A twist in Arizona awhile back. The out of country buyer insists on using an attorney in Arizona (we are not an attorney state). Buuyer sends a cashier's check for far more than purchase price and closing costs and when advised they have dramaticaaly overpaid, YEP -- have the attorney WIRE THE EXCESS BACK. Our first go around we had informed the attorney of "what might a scam". Attorney held the check and when the buyers "oversight/overpayment" was requested the attorney advised them that the check was still available and need to know where they wanted it sent. You gussed it --- Never a response from the Hong Kong buyer.

I make my Nigerian Prince's send the funds in cash. So far none has showed up, but I keep hoping.

Haven't heard of this happening in our neck of the woods yet but thanks for the heads up! We have a firm policy of NEVER refunding a deposit until after it's cleared.

Welcome to the modern world. Checks in Asia are considered worthless pieces of paper. Wire Transfer ot "TT" is the only way they conduct business. It is simple, demand wire transfers on all transactions. Problem solved, period.

Always need to keep a sharp eye out, Thanks for posting

I get these all the time. Good to keep on your toes about these sort of scams. For these scammers it is a numbers game; send out enough of these and someone is likely to slip up and lose some cash.

No different than most internet scams, in a way. Just working on sheer volume. Most actually originate with Nigerians, either here, in Nigeria, the UK or Canada. A number are Nigerians working out of Dallas.

If you carefully read their emails, the language is not quite right for English spoken and written as a first language.

I'm as "lucky" as #110 as I win something daily via email.

The Feds are looking for terrorists now so nobody available to catch these folks, except for shows like 60 Minutes who periodically set up the scammers with hidden cameras, etc.

People keep saying why would an escrow company do this, remember real estate brokers take and hold escrow funds as escrow agents themselves. I am constantly getting these types of "fishy" deals from oversees buyer saying they are bankers or soldiers or what have you but in the Q&A process it just feels off, maybe they are not as forthcoming as they should be. Anyway, I've never fallen for any of these scams but I can see how a broker if not careful as he or she should normally be does not look at such situations as potential scams.

It is not at all uncomon for people not to check their checkbooks before writing checks these days and brokers are no different. You must be diligent in your fiduciary duties, I for one probably do a better job of managing other people's funds than I do my own. Probably because I'm always concious of the possible issues. Just take a look at any states real estate commission website's enforcement activity or disciplinary page and look at the latest people who got into trouble for things either they knowingly did or were clueless of but should have been aware.

It's good just to publish these warnings to keep people on their toes and aware of what is going on around them.

We had a different slant to the same scam. The truly absurd thing is this almost happened twice, the first time was with a relative young agent whose broker (me) threw up enough roadblocks that the guy went away. We put out the word locally but an older & very experienced agent that was determined to show up the young agent & was sure they were too smart & too good to be taken advantage of fell into the trap and that's when the title company had to close their accounts. An out of state buyer that no one has ever seen, wanted to spend $17,000,000 on several purchases (dollar amount was the first clue), then he was going to fly in with the check in hand to close quickly on these deals (clue #2), then he kept getting delayed and finally decided to wire the money (clue #3), title company gave out all their routing numbers and account numbers for their trust account, SURPRISE!! the money never got wired and the guy never came to town. Title company got so spooked (rightly so) that they closed down their trust account and opened up another account. Bottom line--IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE AND IS TOO EASY OF A PATH TO A BIG PAYDAY, THEN IT PROBABLY IS!! There's no such thing as an easy, big, quick payday in this business.

My husband and I fell victim to a Nigerian scam (I know, I know) in the Bay Area several years ago, before I got in to real estate. Our Realtor had 20+ years experience, it was an all cash deal and she never asked for proof of funds! Well in to the deal, the buyer was arrested trying to cross back in to the US with a million dollars in a suitcase. Hey, at least he had the cash! Anyway, makes for a good story at cocktail parties and real estate conventions! We all know about Caveat Emptor, now it's also Caveat Venditor! (Seller Beware!)

Hi Charles! I just dumped a person trying to pull this on myself. Thou it did not get to the point of even making an offer. The email started as a contact through Trulia. They answered my initial questions correctly and once I sent a property to them via email that met their criteria I received an email in return stating they wanted to make an all cash offer. They went on about transfering cash to my escrow through an Attorney they wanted me to interview and hire on their behalf. When I explained that was not going to happen and that was not how this transaction would take place I never heard back from them. Thanks for the post in getting this information out to our fellow Agents.

Mine is currently with someone "trying to wire me the money for the home inspection, but is having issues getting the money to Canada." He "needs me to supply the extra $2500 to the seller as he has been tied up"

I have been stringing him along for three weeks now, telling him I am in and out of the country looking to buy a new mommy for my little girl. He is getting ansty , asking if I was able to get the money to his seller.

I have had fun with several of these over the years. In another week, I will send him an email from a fake account, telling him I am a cop investigating fraud and refer to me. They kinda disappear about then.

These guys are my entertainment.

My son had one trying to buy his laptop. My son told him 4 four keys stick, The S,C,A,M, keys.

Yes, we've also had that scam, or a variation of it, in our area also.

JUL

As professionals we should dictate the terms and conditions to secure funds from buyers, so accepting personal checks or cashier's checks in lieu of an EFT to an escrow company should be unacceptable, especially if the buyer is located outside your community.

This scam could work with sellers FSBO's, who aren't aware of the closing process and are usually excited because the buyer is offering a full or higher price than they're asking. Another important benefit why everyone should hire a Realtor and avoid any such calamities.

Charles: Apparently some people fall for the scam it appears

We get a many different types of scams here in South Florida. We have to be very aware of what is a scam and what isn't because we have many "real" buyers from different states as well as different countries that do buy properties sight unseen.

My suggestion to any of you that get these emails is to report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/about/default.aspx. This center is a combined effort between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. They will route the complaint to the appropriate agency whether it be the FBI, Interpol, etc. If no one complains they will just keep getting away with it. You can also check out the various types of scams on http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com. That site lists many of the most recent scams.

Good luck and be careful out there!

I'm amazed that some people fall for this scam. Usually there are so many red flags that it's nearly impossible not to get suspicious.

These guys aim for hungry...and yes, sometimes greedy folks who are willing to jump at the chance to make some money, quick. So...be honest, trustworthy, suspicious, and suspicious again for anything out of the ordinary.

Thanks for the heads up, we sometimes make it so easy for them don't we? If they could just take that energy into doing something creative or constructive!

There's always something. People will find more ways to scam, especially in this financial storm.

I am used to seeing scams on a much larger scale. It's amazing how many scams there are on every level. And yes, the internet makes it even easier to get away with.

Unreal I have not heard of this happening in Massachusetts but I would not doubt any scams, just think if they really put this creative thought to a good cause, what a stronger world we would live in, no wonder trust has now become a four letter word.

JUL

You can never be too careful! Have been hearing about this scam in California... but not of any escrow/title companies that have taken the bait.

Yes it is going around - Got hit with one myself. Didn't get that far - thank God... Lucky it worked out....

JUL

Haven't seen this one yet........but have seen the one on Craigs List......have received a few suspicious e-mails, but that's it so far......it never ceases to amaze me how many scammers are out there......

JUL

The same thing happen here in New York. Thank God the Attorney caught it.

We all have to be on our guard.

AUG

I can understand someone falling for the Craig's List scam but not the others. I had a client send a $7,000 check to an overseas based lender and was surprised that they did not respond to any inquires after the check cleared. I had referred her to 3 local lenders but she found a better deal searching on the Internet.

AUG

Hey Charles, congratulations on the Featured post! We too had this happen to one my agents. Fortunately, we have a policy to allow all checks clear before releasing any funds.

We contacted the authorities and I'm not sure what happened, but we caught on sooner than later!

AUG

Thanks to everyone for sharing the scam stories. I knew about the craigslist rental scams, but this out of the country stuff is all new to me. Thanks!

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