Avoiding The Latest Real Estate Fraud Scam

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has created a video for home buyers to help them avoid getting caught up in the latest scam that crooks are using to dupe home buyers and steal their money. This involves hacking into the email accounts of Realtors or Mortgage Companies or Title Companies and issuing last minute changes to wiring instructions.  Click here to watch the NAR video.

Unfortunately, too many people still trust emails that look legit and appear to be coming from the email address of a person with whom they may be dealing on a home buy. The wiring instructions are usually just forwarded to the buyers' bank and the people there just follow the instructions. Before anyone catches the ruse,the crooks have made off with the funds that were transferred to buy the house. There nay be nothing that can be done, but at best it will delay the closing while the banks try to recover the funds.

Don't let the crooks fool you. Always double check with whoever you think sent the email to confirm the instructions or changes to instructions. Last minute changes to wiring instructions seldom ever really occur like that in legitimate deals.

Fraud plagues the first-time buyer program

There was a report on the news last night about the growing cases of fraud being discovered in the first-time buyer tax rebate program. The sleazy operators of the world will always find ways to game the system. What was interesting to me in the report was not the thousands and thousands who have made claims to be first time buyers, when in fact they either already own a home or certainly are not first time buyers (even by the 3 year rule in the program). You could have bet on that happening, as I have opined here before. What was more surprising is that well over ten thousand people have claimed the tax rebate without even buying a house – they just said that they planned to buy a house. Well, excuse me, how the hell did that happen. Why couldn’t everyone in America just say that they planned to buy a house and ask for their $8,000.

I am a proponent of the program and I think it has done a lot of good to re-ignite the housing market; however, I’m appalled that our government is so inept that it would actually send checks to people who have no proof that they’ve actually bought a house. We can only hope that someone in whatever bureaucratic office is in charge of that gets canned AND that everyone whom they catch committing fraud gets a new home - behind bars somewhere. I know it won’t happen. Bureaucrats never get fired and most people caught in fraud cases usually just get a slap on the wrist and a fine that they likely never pay anyway.

I think I’ve figured out a legal way to work this whole thing. I’m going to send in a rebate request and make the claim that I will absolutely not buy a house, because I don’t qualify; however, that I feel that I deserve $8,000 anyway for being honest about it. There’s probably some government boob somewhere who would authorize the check. It wouldn’t be fraud, since I would be honestly admitting that I’m not buying a house and that I don’t qualify. What do you think?