People think, “I can find a property myself using Zillow/Realtor.com/Realestate.com/etc., so why do I need to use a buyer agent?” Well, consider the story of Tabria Josey and Kiani Russell, two women from Loxahatchee who preyed on people who thought just that.
Loxahatchee is in Palm Beach County, but these two crooks didn’t limit their crimes to that location. They defrauded potential home buyers in Lee, Indian River, Palm Beach, Flagler, Orange and St. Lucie counties as well. So far, police haven’t identified any victims in Collier County, but the investigation is ongoing.
Florida law enforcement officials say Josey and Russell listed properties for sale on various real estate websites (i.e., Zillow, Realtor.com, Realestate.com, etc.) without the owners’ knowledge and would often impersonate the owners. Once a victim committed to buying the property, Josey would act as the title agent facilitating the closing, taking the potential buyer’s earnest money for deposit in a fraudulent “escrow” account. As part of the scheme, she created fictitious title companies, websites, title agent identities and unique email addresses making the sale appear legitimate.
In all, the two crooks scammed 45 victims looking to buy one of 25 properties, defrauding those unfortunate people of almost $300,000. Now that they’ve been caught, the two women will face charges of conspiring to defraud, grand theft, money laundering, aggravated white-collar crime and communications fraud.
These two thieves will get what they deserve – a stretch in the state prison – but what of their victims? How likely is it that those folks will get any of their money back? How much easier and safer is it to contact a licensed realtor who knows the market and can engage real title companies and mortgage brokers to assist their buyers in purchasing their new home. Isn’t that worth something? Think about it.
Комментарии