January 25th, 2010 at 9:37pm
The next time you see a home for rent in Craigslist at a price that looks too good to be true, think twice: it might be.
Both prospective renters and property owners wanting to rent their homes are finding themselves victimized by con artists, who troll Craigslist for vacant properties and post their own ads in the hopes of scamming a few hundred or thousand dollars by “renting” a house.
Some of the frauds are caught by the tenants, who see multiple ads for the same property but at different monthly rents. And one ad posted recently by a property owner boldly stated that her property was being fraudulently “listed” by a person she named outright.
According to Laura Upland of the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, many of the suspects are Nigerian, having honed their careers previously in credit card fraud.
In one instance in Vallejo, a woman seeking to rent a house called the number in the ad after her rental application was approved in 20 minutes without her providing her social security number or bank account numbers. She was uncomfortable about sending her deposit via Western Union. When she asked the so-called owner to describe where Vallejo was, he hung up the phone.
Renters: one way to protect yourselves is to ask a Realtor to run a title report to see if the name of the owner on title matches that of the caller. It’s not a perfect system but could help the renter lose his or her money to a thief.
Read the Full Article in the Vallejo Times Herald.
September 27th, 2009 at 2:26pm
Bad news for those who commit real estate fraud and mortgage fraud in Ventura County: the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office has just received almost $1.7 million in federal stimulus money to fight real estate crimes.
As a result of this good use of taxpayers’ dollars, the D.A.’s office will add one prosecutor, two investigators and an assistant to its team assigned to fighting real estate fraud according to Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten.
If you live in Ventura County and believe you are the victim of a real estate fraud, click here for the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office to find complaint forms.
Read the Full Article in the Ventura County Star. This article is also reprinted in Examiner.com by the L.A. Fraud Examiner.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:21pm
Here’s a scheme that has sprouted from the increase in bank-owned, aka REO (real estate owned) market. It should outrage every honest, hard-working person who plays by the rules and doesn’t want to subsidize those who don’t.
Read my article on my channel as the L.A. Fraud Examiner on Examiner.com
June 7th, 2009 at 10:28am
No news to honest real estate professionals, home buyers and sellers: the San Fernando Valley is “awash” in real estate fraud, mortgage fraud, appraisal fraud, foreclosure fraud, rental fraud - you name it, we have it.
Residents wanting to learn more about foreclosure fraud were treated to excellent speakers at a meeting hosted by the Shepard of the Hills church in Porter Ranch. Detective Erin Camphouse, of the LAPD Real Estate Fraud Unit observed “I think the Valley and South Los Angeles are two higher frequency areas (of foreclosure fraud).”
Read the Full Article in the San Fernando Valley Sun.
