Here's a Florida oldie and badie:

The complaint outlined in an Attorney General Press release in sum and substance alleges that Mr. Teal, while living in Singapore, held a "mail drop box" in Marco Island which he used to defraud people out of their land. Mr. Teal appears to have used the Internet to identify specific parcels of Florida land owned by predominately out-of-state residents. He made offers to buy their real estate, holding their property under contract indefinitely until he found a buyer to purchase it at a higher price. It appears that he systematically would threaten the owners with lawsuits and fraudulent affidavits to prevent them from escaping the "unfair" transactions.

The 2005 AG press release specifically states, "The affidavits filed by Teal claimed he had a valid contract, and he would threaten to file a lawsuit to compel the property owner to sell him the property. As long as the affidavits remained in the court clerk's official record, the landowner did not have clear title and was prevented from selling to any other buyers. These affidavits put a "cloud" on the title to the property, giving Teal an unlimited amount of time to arrange for another purchaser to buy the property from him. If a property owner objected to Teal's legal tactics, he threatened litigation. Investigators determined that Teal has bought and sold hundreds of properties, turning more than a million dollars profit in this manner."

How's that for nerve?