Comments on: Internet Real Estate Scam Update

By: Rental Scam to Watch Out For « Seide Realty

Rental Scam to Watch Out For « Seide Realty — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:11:41 +0000

[...] is a link to Sarah Stelmok’s blog “sarahiouslyspeaking.com” where she has posted her correspondence with the potential thief who was trying to rent out [...]

By: Internet Real Estate Scam Update #2 » Sarah Stelmok

Internet Real Estate Scam Update #2 » Sarah Stelmok — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:29:04 +0000

[...] Internet Real Estate Scam Update [...]

By: Kathleen Seide

Kathleen Seide — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:04:42 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experience! I am sharing a link to this on my blog to warn others.

By: Wendy Polisi

Wendy Polisi — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:16:37 +0000

Sarah,

Apparently this is happening a lot. We run a retail Lease Option program and have about 100 homes optioned in our program at any time. About two months ago, we found out that someone from Nigeria was posting our homes and pretending to be my husband. Like in your situation, he posted the homes for far less than what they actually went for. He also went so far as to talk about our kids. (although he had their gender wrong)

Believe it or not, he went so hard to get my husbands name @yahoo.com as an email he used when corresponding with clients.

When we found out about it (from two clients he had been in contact with) we immediately sent an email to our 2,000+ buyers list. Fortunately we did, because someone that was on it was set to send funds to the guy.

We called the FBI and they tried to catch the guy but nothing came of it.

Sad to think it is happening more than we think.

By: Jason Sandquist

Jason Sandquist — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:33:00 +0000

at least somebody contacted you through Trulia.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:11:42 +0000

I realy like that the dining room table and couch conveyed! Will be interesting to see the outcome.

By: @RealtyLee

@RealtyLee — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:50:44 +0000

Sarah – Terrific job in tracking this and letting others know — consumers, real estate agents, authorities. Let’s hope this type of thing doesn’t absorb much more of your time — or anyone’s money, ever. Good luck!

By: Ray Nelson

Ray Nelson — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:00:35 +0000

How frightening! I had a similar incident several years back when I tried to sell a van on craigslist. The best advice, and craigslist posts it on every page, is to deal locally. Its hard for someone in Nigeria to be “local” to Fredericksburg. Glad you cottoned to it and I hope they catch the guy.

By: Rocky

Rocky — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:44:48 +0000

Sarah, I am so sorry to hear you go through this. However you are doing good in trying to find the scammer. I wish you the best of luck, and if you need a third party let me know. I my self and a friend have been able to get these guys to send us information.

Also, I would like to post this to my website as a warning to others.

Best
Rocky

By: Sarah Stelmok

Sarah Stelmok — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:40:54 +0000

Jeremy – I just keep waiting for the guy to stop responding to me!

Sarah – It is amazing how far they will go to get so little money per scam. I’m actually happy I’ve been able to see this scam in action from this angle. It makes the blog post that much more informative!

Matthew – that’s tip #1!