Tag Archives: StopScamsVT

Homeowners and buyers can outsmart seller impersonators

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By McKenna Halvorson

Finding your dream property may feel like finding a needle in a haystack. You may be tempted to act fast. But wait! There are illegitimate property listings and fake sellers out there.

Unfortunately, seller impersonation scams, also called “deed fraud”, are on the rise. Deed fraud is when criminals attempt to sell property they do not own. The listings may steal information from properties already on the market or create a new advertisement based on real property, such as real estate listed in a city/town’s grand list. Scammers often target property of absentee owners like vacation homes, vacant lots, or residential rentals. Criminals succeed by forging deed documents.

Unfortunately, seller impersonation scams, also called “deed fraud”, are on the rise. Deed fraud is when criminals attempt to sell property they do not own. The listings may steal information from properties already on the market or create a new advertisement based on real property, such as real estate listed in a city/town’s grand list. Scammers often target property of absentee owners like vacation homes, vacant lots, or residential rentals. Criminals succeed by forging deed documents. There are few barriers, especially when the property has no lienholder and debts have been paid.

Red Flags for Spotting Fraudulent Listings:

5 Red Flags for Spotting Fraudulent Listings 1. Deals that are too good to be true 2. Sellers that only communicate by email or text 3. Sellers that are urging you to act quickly 4. Sellers that require specific payment methods 5. Sales of a vacant lot
  1. Deals that are too good to be true
    -Criminals may list property significantly below normal asking price to entice potential buyers. Trust your instincts.
  2. Sellers that only communicate through email or text
    -Criminals may claim their phone can’t call or they are unavailable to meet in person to sign documents.
    ex: It’s a for-sale-by-owner listing, but you never talk to the owner.
  3. Sellers that urge you to act quickly
    -Criminals may claim the deal is only available for a limited time or that you have to “act now,” hoping that you won’t pause to check it out.
  4. Specific payment methods
    -Criminals may claim buyers can only pay in cash or wire money to an out-of-state bank account. Never send money for unseen property.
  5. Sales of a vacant lot
    -Criminals may focus on vacant lots hoping that the owners live out of state or don’t manage the property.

Options that May Help Protect your Property from Criminals:

  1. Consider “not-for-sale” documents
    -Filing not-for-sale documents with the Town Clerk may serve as a caution flag to realtors when engaging in transactions that involve your property.
  2. Keep a close eye on property bills
    -Check your address on bills to ensure a criminal hasn’t changed the mailing address without your knowledge.
  3. Check your Property’s Deed Status
    -Research your county’s land records/deed information online to ensure criminals have not altered the status of your home to “for sale.”
  4. Monitor the property
    -Ask neighbors to notify you if there is unusual activity on the property.
    -For uninhabited properties, install motion sensors, such as a smart home security camera or device that alerts you about activity.
  5. Set up a Google Alert for your property address
    -This alert will notify you when someone posts about your property online.
  6. Check for online activity
    -Search popular real estate sites like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com and review your property location to see if it is being listed.
    -Search for your address on social media platforms to see if there have been any posts about your property.
  7. Learn about title insurance policies.
    -Homeowner’s insurance policies may offer enhanced title insurance, which can alert you of deed fraud.
  8. Monitor your Credit Report
    -An unknown account can be a sign of identity theft, which could include deed fraud.
    -You can check your credit reports weekly for free at annualcreditreport.com.

For realtors being contacted by potential real estate sellers, reference this notice about seller impersonation fraud by the Vermont Association of Realtors.

If you believe you are experiencing a seller impersonation scam, reach out to local law enforcement, and file a report at ic3.gov. Report the scam to the Vermont Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program at 1-800-649-2424 and ago.vermont.gov/cap


Sources:

American Land Title Association: https://www.alta.org/file/Combating-Seller-Impersonation-Fraud.pdf

NH Department of Justice: Consumer Alert – Attorney General Warns Public to be Diligent Amidst Reports of Quit Claim Deed Fraud | New Hampshire Department of Justice

Vermont Realtors: https://www.vermontrealtors.com/new-scam- and https://www.vermontrealtors.com/consumer-guides/targets-land/

Scams are crimes that we can try to avoid

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By Crystal Baldwin

A heartfelt thank you to Jeanette Voss and Martha “Mickey” Pullen for sharing your stories in a recent Seven Days article, Cyber Scams Are Leaving Older Vermonters Destitute, Frustrated and Saddled with Tax Debt. Your stories help us understand that scams are malicious criminal operations that succeed through thievery. You have helped others to see that responding to a scam is deeply human and natural. Scams are crimes. Scams are never the fault of the people they harm.

Findings by the Federal Trade Commission as well as AARP support that we humans are most likely to respond to scams when our emotions (positive and negative) are elevated—from anger to love, we have recently experienced two or more stressful life events, are living in isolation, and have increased exposure to scam encounters.

It could look like this: A new mom on maternity leave who lost her beloved father receives a call about an unpaid IRS tax debt. When scammers use carefully scripted dialog, the notion of unpaid taxes seems plausible. One may question whether claimed dependents had been properly updated, or if a burial tax was overlooked.

This new mom receiving an unwanted call from the IRS was me. During the call, I felt panic rise as I readied myself to engage. My sleep deprivation and my baby saved me. Upon receipt of the call, I was rushing out the door with my crying child. I decided I was too tired and overwhelmed to engage in a meaningful conversation. Exasperated, I said, “I just can’t right now,” and hung up. Once I was seated in my car, I expressed a long exhale. In that moment, I started laughing as I said aloud, “That was a scam!” My baby was not amused.  

When involved in a scam our brains are likely to experience an “amygdala hijack” —a term defined by Emotional Intelligence expert Daniel Goleman. This hijack is a natural response to emotional stimuli. When it is triggered, our response bypasses the orderly and fact-checking part of our brain. Scammers trigger this hijack by using manipulative psychological tactics. In the recent experience I shared above, my emotions helped me out of a tough situation. But I have experienced scams before where my emotion-based actions led me to monetary loss.

Scams frequently occur in isolation. Because of this, one of our best prevention strategies is to stay connected with our communities. That way, whenever you encounter something that is unexpected, urgent, unsettling, or unknown, you can engage a trusted contact, or community organization. This trusted support serves as your sounding board. They will help you to ask questions and expose the scam. Regularly engaging your trusted contact, such as when thinking about buying from a new website or making a high-dollar purchase, helps you to form scam avoidance habits. As burdensome as it may seem to activate a prevention strategy involving others, think of it like locking your door. It is a safety measure that will hopefully stop a thief from stealing from you.

Key Prevention Tip: When it's unexpected, urgent, unsettling, or unfamiliar: Slow down, Take steps to verify, Get community support.

If you have responded to a scam, know that you are not alone. Please report all scams to the FBI’s IC3.gov so that they can aggregate data to identify scam activity.

Steps when funds or personal information have been jeopardized:

STEP 1:
Immediately contact the Financial Institution’s Fraud Department.

STEP 2:
Immediately report to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center: ic3.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI
If personal information may have been stolen or compromised:  IdentityTheft.gov provides step-by-step recovery guidance or call 1-877-438-4338

STEP 3:
Consider engaging a trusted contact who will support you through the process.

STEP 4:
Engage Vermont supports when you need additional help:

VT Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program:
 ago.Vermont.gov/cap

VT Department of Financial Regulation:
dfr.Vermont.gov

Local law enforcement inquiry

United Ways of Vermont 2-1-1 Information and Referral Hotline

Stay safe and be well, Vermont.