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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – A real estate scam is happening in the Tennessee Valley.
Scammers are selling plots of land they don’t own. And all it takes is a phone call to make it happen.
Experts say one of the best ways to beat this scam is to get to know your neighbors.
Recently, two people received calls from neighbors asking why they were selling their land.
They saw the for sale signs on their properties but the landowners had no idea what they were talking about.
“A neighbor texted me and said, ‘I’m so sad to see a for sale sign on your lot. I thought we were going to be neighbors,’” realtor Anita Newton said.
Newton said someone pretended to be her and tried to sell her land.
All of the correspondence was online.
The imposter verified the fake identity using a tax form, a document that’s open to the public. That’s all that’s needed in a transaction like this.
Newton says they took down the signs and listing right after her neighbor called.
“It’s a little scary there aren’t more things in place that could help everyone from these types of things,” Newton said.
Realtor Carissa Scott said she was almost tricked into buying property from an imposter.
She only found out when the real landowner called her.
“She said my neighbor said ‘I’m selling the property and was telling me, ‘Oh, I’m so disappointed,’ and she said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not selling and he said there was a sign on your property so that’s how she got my number,” said Carissa Scott, also a realtor.
Newton said she’s familiar with this type of scam. She says there are a few ways to avoid it.
For landowners, she says you should check on your property occasionally to ensure nothing has been tampered with.
For buyers, be wary if a deal seems too good to be true.
And for realtors, you can ask to mail documents to the buyer.
“The address they would be sending it to would be the correct owner address that’s on the tax records and because this is a country-wide problem that should stop the sale at that point,” Newton said.
If a fake sale does go through the buyer could be out thousands of thousands of dollars. The real estate agent could be liable for a lawsuit.
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This article was originally published by a www.waff.com . Read the Original article here. .