53) Avoid Scams & Stop Paying Your Tenant's Water Bill

House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest Kelly Koontz. They discuss blog 149, Avoid These 3 Common Real Estate Scams. There are way more than 3 out there but these are some of the scams Alan or his clients have experienced. Scam #1 is wire instructions spoofing. For this scam, the scammers get access to the email of the real estate agents, or mortgage lender, or client and they sit in the inbox waiting for a message. They will send an email to whoever has to wire the money and typically it's the buyer or the closing attorney. The scammers will spoof emails, pretending to be the closing attorney with the email signature that looks exactly the same with a fake email address with a message of wiring a money urgently. Unfortunately, Alan had a client who fell for this scam. When Lauren first started in real estate, the sellers would send the wire instructions, but now, it’s a PDF with wire instructions but also it has an instruction to call a number to get those four numbers which adds another step but that stops the buyer from getting scammed. Kelly had a close business owner friend who experienced getting scammed similarly. Kelly reminds us that you should not think that getting scammed is only happening to somebody else, it is real and it's happening all over the place. Scam #2 is WhatsApp Conversations. Scammers will pretend to be a new client and will tell you to move the conversation to WhatsApp. If you're talking to a wholesaler, an agent, or a lender and they want to move the conversation to WhatsApp, it's probably a scam because that's not how business is done in the United States. The reason scammers do this is because it can be encrypted and anonymous, it doesn't cost them any fees and they can easily hide. Scam #3 is Buying a Timeshare. Timeshare is like a hotel resort but you only get to book a week. Every week of your chosen week is “yours” at a certain hotel, you pay for a downpayment of approximately $30,000 and you pay for an “HOA” fee each year. If you ever want to sell your timeshare, they'll never resell or buy yours, you're on your own. That's why a scam companies were formed. There will be law firms who pretend like they’re going to help you get out of your timeshare and then you will pay them $20,000 and once paid, they will be gone. In summary: 1) beware of urgency, 2) there’s no free lunch, 3) know if you’re the kind of person who could get scammed, and 4) when it comes to timeshares, remember that you should value flexibility. 

 

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