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September 5, 2025 • 12 mins
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are about to hear a feature that was created
to expose the scammers, thieves, and con artists among us.
The dialogue and temperament about to be used by Hollywood
Hamilton does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of iHeartMedia.
This is fraud Friday.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
The phantom house scam. That's I think this is going
to be the second real estate scam, piece of fraud
that we've been covering the last almost a year now,
we've been doing Fraud Friday. We've almost collected a little
over one hundred thousand dollars for listeners.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Give yourselves a.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Day, Yeah, Sam, I may give yourself very grand Over
the course of almost a year now, on Fraud Friday,
we've got Ashley on.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
The phone with us.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
She's out of Queen's and she got duped by a
fraudulent realitner that was selling her a house that wasn't
actually really for sale.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Oh awful, sell in a house it's not for sale.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
It was devastating to feel so caught off garden, to
feel like I was taken advantage of by something that
felt very legitimate.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
First of all, how did you find this guy?

Speaker 4 (01:05):
It was through a Facebook group, it looked legitimate, and
the photos of the property were beautiful and what I
was looking for. I felt I felt comfortable enough to
reach out and to request the tour and we met up.
It was it was very felt very comfortable. It felt

(01:25):
very natural.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
And Ashley Facebook, I can understand buying a lawnmore.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
But you buy here. You're looking to buy a home
off Facebook.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
It was some sort of group, right, Ashley, you belonged
to a group that was looking for homes.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
Correct, Yes, and it was considered a private placement, which
is kind of off market. So it's you know, before
any before it's listed into any of the MLS's, you
kind of have this priority to view the property before
anybody else and possibly come in at a better deal
before it's listed on.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
My interesting right, I understand, now, okay, and that's where
you come in with your three grand right, So you
come in. Where did you meet this guy? What's his name?
Let's start from the beginning. Where did you meet him?

Speaker 4 (02:11):
We met for coffee and he showed me pictures of
the listing, which reflected what was online and kind of
really reinforced this is really what I was looking for.
I got really excited and that was when he presented
that I needed to make kind of like a good
faith payment for even viewing the property, which I thought

(02:34):
was a little odd. But I thought, you know, this
is a premier listing, it's a private listing. I might
not have this opportunity if I really want the property.
And he did ensure that it was refundable or it
would go towards the down payment.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
So this guy's names Brandon and Anthony did have a
conversation with him last night. We can't continue with these,
by the way, unless we do that pre interview, and
we know that these criminals and these scammers actually pick
up the phone.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
So he picked up last night.

Speaker 5 (03:00):
When you went to see the house, did it look
like the pictures that he showed you?

Speaker 4 (03:05):
So that's the thing. I never saw the property.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Oh my god, never saw them. But that's what the
paper was for. Right, it was this off listing, this
off book listing. It was supposed to be before everyone
else got a chance to see it. Right, you pay
your three grand and.

Speaker 6 (03:19):
Then you get to see this house before everyone else.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
He's not returning to any of my calls and he's
completely ghosted me. So I am embarrassed.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Hold on. He picked up the phone last night. He's
completely ignoring you.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
It's been three weeks.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
All right, here we go, Ashley stand by, you know,
much like warter Rows is. You're gonna be sitting there listening,
but don't say anything, okay, because I'm gonna come out
of the gate. We're gonna come out of this gate
hard on this guy and he gets loud.

Speaker 6 (03:47):
Trust me.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Welcome back for part two for this week's Fraud Friday.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Care Listener's name is Ashley.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
She got taken for three grand the phantom house scam.

Speaker 7 (04:04):
Hello, this is Brandon Property. What can I do for you?

Speaker 5 (04:07):
Hi, Brandon, My name is Marie and I was on
Facebook and I saw a house that you have listed.

Speaker 7 (04:15):
Can you give me a number number?

Speaker 6 (04:18):
What do you mean number? I'm sorry, I'm not.

Speaker 7 (04:20):
Following an address for the house.

Speaker 6 (04:22):
Okay. Uh the address is one two one Drive, do
you oh?

Speaker 7 (04:28):
Okay? That's yeah. That's a beautiful home.

Speaker 6 (04:31):
Is it still Please tell me it's still available?

Speaker 7 (04:33):
Yeah. So actually we've got it in private placement, which
is great because it means it's off market. So this
is actually the perfect time for you to call and
ask about this. Okay, you know I'd be happy to
show it to you sometimes.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
Oh that would be great because I love this house.
It is the perfect house for my family, It really is.

Speaker 7 (04:54):
Did you see the pictures online?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (04:56):
Oh my gosh, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous photo.

Speaker 7 (05:00):
Great. Yeah there. You know what would be best, I
think is if we would meet up sometime. We can
get together, we can look a little more over the photos.
I'd like to just show you some more detail about
the property and then we can talk about getting you
into the home to see it.

Speaker 6 (05:15):
I mean, are other people bidding on this house? I mean?
Do I am? I even in the running for buying
this house? Just be honest.

Speaker 7 (05:24):
Yeah. That's the great thing about this is we actually
just recently put it up and it is private placement,
so so we so you know, you kind of great.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
You know what's great because Ashley wanted it and Ashley
couldn't get it.

Speaker 6 (05:38):
You know, yeah, what does this mean? Private placement?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
You know that is private placement. That's how he gets
the money out of you.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
You know, Ashley wanted to actually see the house, but
he ripped off Ashley and he's moving on to you now.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
So I mean it's one of.

Speaker 6 (05:50):
Those ties Ashley didn't even get to see it. Well,
so that means I'll probably not be able to see
it either.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
No, are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (05:57):
He's going to rip you off the same bump, probably
gonna ask you for the three grand, just like he did.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Ashley.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Right, Ashley, are you there? I'm here, Brandon, give me
a second. Ashley, can you identify the voice of this Brandon?
Is this the guy you've been dealing with?

Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yeah, that's that's him.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Okay, Brandon, my name is Sean Hamilton.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
I'm a private investigator here in Queen's and you've been
talking to Marie. She's my assistant, Samantha. Can you come
on the phone really quickly?

Speaker 3 (06:22):
I am here.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Listen, Brandon. We've also got Ashley on the phone. This
is a victim she's been taking for three thousand dollars
by your bogus, fraudulent real estate company.

Speaker 7 (06:36):
Not saying any little quiet there, you know, I actually
don't know what you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Er Ashley.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Okay, why don't you give me a minute right now? Ashley,
can you refresh his memory a little bit?

Speaker 7 (06:47):
Right?

Speaker 6 (06:47):
Yeah, he doesn't quite remember.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
I don't know if you recognize my voice, but we
met up at a coffee shop. You told me that
I was required to pay a refundable down payment to
view the property, and then you haven't returned to any
of my calls. You never scheduled to meet up again
to view the property, and I'm out three thousand dollars.

Speaker 7 (07:11):
I don't know what to tell you because I really
don't know anything about that. And I mean, hold.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, Brandon, are you
telling me that you don't even know anything about a
Ashley out of Queen's I mean.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
You asked for three days.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
You knows who I am?

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Okay, listen, yeah, shut up, shut up. Like I said,
I'm a private investigator. I work with Melinda Katz. Do
you know who Melinda Cats is?

Speaker 7 (07:39):
Once again, I have a lot of customers.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, she's Queen's New York District attorney for Queens,
Melinda Cats.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
I work very closely with our office.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Now we looked into this, the National Association of Realtors Board,
the NAR. They have no idea who you are. We
know the phantom house scam. You just took our client,
took her for three thousand dollars. Now we're gonna settle
this up now one way or the other, or I'm
just gonna go to We're gonna go to NYPD right now.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
You don't even know who actually is no.

Speaker 7 (08:10):
I I tried to call you back twice. I didn't
get a respond I tried to email you.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
I have her back and Samantha, can you do me
a favorit? Get Melinda Kats's office on the phone. Absolutely.

Speaker 6 (08:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
First, he didn't remember, had no idea what we were
talking about. Now suddenly, Hey, I called you twice and
you never returned my phone call.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Brandon, this is what we're looking for. Look, our client
is all she wants is her money back. Will let
this lie. We just need the three grand back. That's
all we want.

Speaker 7 (08:43):
I don't know what you're talking about. The three grand.
I agreed to show her a property. I sat down
with her, I saw, oh my gosh, emailed me.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
You told me on the spot that I needed to
then mail you the money and that you would then
reach back out to schedule an appointment to view it,
and you didn't.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
You are running a scam.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
So ridiculous, and you're using the same pictures again on
Facebook to scam somebody.

Speaker 7 (09:09):
He is he is.

Speaker 5 (09:13):
He is Ashley because I gave him the address that
you gave me and he's saying that house is still available.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
I'm done with this, Samantha. Can you can you do
me a favorite?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Can you get Derek on the phone from preseinxt one
oh seven out of I actually can do that, Peet,
get him on the phone right now with me. Okay,
I guess that's it. You're not going to pay my
client for three thousand dollars back. We're gonna, by any
means necessary, we're going to have to legally take control
of this. So we're going to go to Melinda Katz
and we're going to go to the National Association of Realtors.

(09:42):
I don't know if you're actually a realtor, Brandon, if
Federal Trade Commission.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
We're going to go to the United States Department Housing
and Urban Development.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
We're just we're going to go right down the list
to go down.

Speaker 7 (09:54):
If she reaches out, I can I can you know
she gives me your venmo I can venmo or back
the money. I'll find it, you know, I'll figure out.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Do you have a number on record? Do you ever
give the phone number to him?

Speaker 4 (10:08):
I don't want my number on the radio.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Radio.

Speaker 6 (10:18):
Okay, he hung up, he hung up. Is he still there?

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (10:24):
He hung up, he hung up, he hung up. Oh
my god, Oh my god. Oh Now now I'm really mad, Ashley.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
You said, you said radio. Well, Ashley, are you there? Yeah,
you said radio Ashley.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
I didn't even think about that. I'm so sorry. I
appreciate all your help and I didn't.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
We can still get her money back. Then you're gonna try.
I think we should.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Try guy back, like he's going to pick up the
phone right now, Like he's going to pick up the phone, Marie,
try it. I don't have try, bring it up, bring it,
ring it right now, record Samantha column. Oh, this is
a first.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
This is a first off the rails here on Fraud Friday.

Speaker 8 (11:17):
Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system.
One three, one, five six eight one is not available
at the tone. Please record your message. When you have
finished recording, you may hang up or press one for
more options.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Brandon, this is Sean Hamilton again from k TU Radio. Listen.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
We're not We're not playing around. I'm gonna give you
my private number eight nine one eight seven. I want
you to call me immediately. We want to get our
listeners' money back. Well, we're going to come down on
you like a ton of bricks.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
We know people. You have an hour to call us back.
I hung up. Okay, all right, Ashley, I'm so sorry.
I don't even know what to say.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm the one that slipped up, so.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I know you didn't. It's okay, it's okay. Let's hope
for the best. This is the first time that's ever
happened on Friday. We're gonna call you tomorrow, Okay, Ashley.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Okay, Okay, hopefully we can get somewhere.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Cheez do do ones do. We got jeerz do do.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Wish you would get
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