Usually when we think of getting hacked, we’re worried about our social media profiles, email accounts and credit cards – not our homes. However, scams that basically “hack” real estate are on the rise.
Take the case of a Missouri couple who recently started getting emails from friends asking if they were selling their five-bedroom home. Those friends saw the house listed on popular real estate website Zillow.
“Our house has been hacked on Zillow,” said Jamey Bertram, according to the Kansas City Star. Jamey, a senior vice president at Burns & McDonnell architecture and engineering firm, and his wife Lauren bought their 5,300 square foot ranch home in the city for nearly $1 million in 2019. They have no plans to move and they didn’t put their house up on the site.
Apparently, the “for sale by owner” listing initially had the sale price at “market value” of around $1.2 million. Then, the price dropped to $10,200 on Thursday night.
“Selling my home because my family and I own many houses across the U.S.,” the listing said, per the Kansas City Star. “Once a year we sell one or a few of our homes to first time buyers for under $25,000. This is done to bless a family or individual that needs it, but also as a tax write off for us.”
Additionally, the listing said that the property was not open to Realtors, lenders, investors, wholesalers or attorneys, but “FIRST TIME BUYERS ONLY!” who were instructed to call “Mandi” at a number with a Las Vegas area code.
KIRO 7 in the Seattle, Wash., area reported on a very similar listing last November.
“Even the listing instructions read like a B-movie ransom note: First call Mandi in Vegas. Deposit $245 cash via Western Union. Send to my mom,” said the outlet. “And, the best part, after the walk-through, the balance of $10,000 will be due at closing – or, over five years at $167 a month.”
When KIRO 7 called the number, someone said “sorry,” and hung up.
Regarding the more recent case, “The Star called the number and received a response, saying that interested buyers should send $200 through an online banking app ‘to the owners mom. … Then we can move forward,’” with a home walk-through, said the paper.
Jamey Bertram said that people have been knocking on their front door, expecting home showings. When Bertram first contacted Zillow, he received a response asking him to provide proof of ownership, which he did.
He also reached out to his realtor for help.
“I’ve been spending the last three days trying to unwind this person that has taken over my house online. I’ve had zero help from Zillow,” he told the Kansas City Star. “They’ve become unresponsive. … It’s a hot mess.”
Zillow communications representative Gina Cole said the site took down the listing Friday in response to an inquiry from The Star.
“Zillow strives to provide a safe online platform with accurate information, which is why we go to great lengths to prevent inappropriate content from being posted and to fully inform users of how to protect themselves online and offline. Our teams monitor activity in several different ways, actively screening out fraudulent listings, and if an existing listing is found to be spurious, it is removed from our sites as quickly as possible,” a Zillow spokesperson told CBS Moneywatch in an email.
According to report published this spring by Forbes, real estate scams are on the rise.
Citing the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, it said that business email compromise (BEC) schemes frequently target the real estate sector. Last year, the center received close to 10,000 real-estate-based complaints and these crimes amounted to more than $145 million in losses.
“As an example, the IC3 revealed that in March 2023, the FBI received a complaint from an individual in Stamford, Connecticut, who was purchasing a home and received a spoofed email that they thought was from their attorney,” Forbes said. “To finalize the closing, the instructions were to wire $426,000 to a particular financial institution. Two days later, the individual realized this was not a legitimate request.”
Last year, the National Association of Realtors also cited FBI data warning that real estate and rental scams are increasing, with vacant land emerging as a new target for scammers. Earlier this year, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a new consumer alert called Real Estate Scams – How to Avoid Being Taken in by Fake Listings.
“Fraudulent real estate listings often advertise properties that don’t exist, are not for sale or rent, or are not what they appear to be,” said a press release from Nessel’s office.
Zillow isn’t the only site where real estate fraud can happen, said the University of California Santa Barbra Information Security team. Scams can also happen through sites like Redfin, Trulia, and Craigslist.
“Scams are a reality of shopping online and offline. Zillow strives to provide a safe online community, but you should always be wary of giving personal information, financial information, or payments of any kind to people you don’t know personally,” said the website. It does offer some tips for avoiding scams.
Zillow said scam red flags include: requests to wire funds via MoneyGram or Western Union, long-distance landlords, requests for verification codes, requests for personal or financial information, typos and sob stories.
“If you find a fraudulent listing on Zillow, please report it by clicking ‘Report Listing’ and selecting ‘Listing seems to be fraudulent or illegal’ on the listing page in question,” said the site. Zillow also recommends reporting scams to the Federal Trade Commission.