CASPER — The real estate agent on the other end of the phone with Yvette Hileman wasn’t cold-calling to see if she wanted to sell property she owns at the bottom of Casper Mountain.
Seems it’s already for sale, which was news to Hileman.
Hileman knew nothing about the sale of property that’s been in her family for 40 years.
The online listing putting her land out there looked legit.
“It contained a Google phone number and an email address that had my husband’s name, but was not our email address,” Hileman said. “Thankfully, Albon reached out to us and left a message with his concern.”
That would be Casper Realtor Albon Shaw, who said he’s been seeing these types of online scams for a few years, and they’re getting more bold and frequent.
Typically, scammers claim to live out of state and has land they want to get rid of. The goal is to do an online sale and get the proceeds transferred to them.
“Luckily, our title companies have been very diligent and, as far as I know, have prevented anything from making it to closing,” Shaw said about local scams in the Casper area. “It’s just a way for scammers to try and take advantage of other people.”
Shaw said most of the time the scammers focus on vacant land because then a potential buyer does not have to go see a home. The targeted land to sell involves absentee owners who live in another state and the scammer “pretends to be them.”
The scammers use homes.com and other national real estate websites to reach out to legitimate estate agents or occasionally directly contact them via email.
“They will reach out to us and pretend to be that landowner and want to sell it. If the agent does not catch that it is a scam, they go through the process of listing it and people digitally signing stuff and pretending to own the property,” Shaw said. “That’s why we use that professional network of using proper process and using the title company.”
Sophisticated Effort
In the Hileman’s case, Shaw said the listing looked questionable and he researched the contact information, and when he searched the alleged seller’s number it was a non-assigned number. He said he checked with other agents in the market who received the same message.
He researched and found the Hilemans contact number and gave them a heads up.
Shaw said these scammers are more sophisticated than others because they research the public record, find names of an actual landowner and then proceed with the con.
“It’s a pretty intentional and well-thought-out scam,” he said. “I would think that it’s somebody in the states, but it could be overseas. It is hard to say.”
Casper real estate agent John Lichty said he understands the scams are happening all over the country. Properties tend to be free of mortgages to “take away some of the checks and balances that would be in place.”
In addition to using public records, Lichty said the criminals use background check and skip tracing services that also can provide that information.
Diligence Needed
Lichty said the potential for scams has created the need for more diligence in checking out sellers to make sure they have a legitimate interest in the property, and buyers as well.
“A lot of times I have seen both real estate agents, buyers and sellers, and title companies end up wasting a lot of time vetting these people,” he said.
In his business, Lichty said over the past four years he has had three “pretty serious instances” of fraud and several people making inquiries that just don’t seem legitimate.
The red flags are emails that don’t match up with a seller’s name or searches for individual records in the real estate multiple listing service that do not add up. The search is based on a phone number.
Hileman said after she heard from Shaw and told him her property was not for sale, she contacted title companies in town to let them know as well. Shaw sent an email to other real estate agents. She also posted on a local Facebook page to give other homeowners a heads up.
“It really falls to the real estate pros to vet prospective sellers and do their due diligence to verify that the ‘seller’ actually owns the property and require multiple forms of identification,” she said. “I’m so thankful that Albon took the time to find us and get ahold of us.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
