A couple received shocked messages from friends asking if they were moving out. No, a scammer had listed his house on Zillow.

• Jamey and Lauren Bertram’s home, worth more than $1 million, was posted on Zillow without their consent.

• A scammer offered the house for just $10,000, asking interested buyers to wire $200 to get a showing.

• Some scammers may target eager buyers in a real estate market where there are few homes for sale at reasonable prices.

Imagine waking up one day to find your inbox flooded and the doorbell ringing with eager buyers all clamoring to buy your home.

In this sluggish real estate market, this may seem like a dream, at least if you’re actually looking to sell.

For Kansas City homeowners Jamey and Lauren Bertram, the situation turned into a nightmarish ordeal when they realized their 5,300-square-foot home, purchased for about $1 million in 2019, had been falsely listed for sale on Zillow for just $10,000.

The Kansas City Star was first to report the mix-up.

“My wife and I started getting emails from our friends saying, ‘Hey, are you selling your house?’ Of course we’re not,” Bertram, who LinkedIn says is vice president, told the newspaper. -senior president of the architecture and engineering firm Burns and McDonnell. “I didn’t know what they were talking about.”

According to the Star, when Bertram first saw his home posted on Zillow, featuring images from the 2019 listing, it was for sale at market value. However, within days, the price was reduced to a fraction of its true value: $10,000.

The Star cited the ad description that Bertrams said was written by a scammer: “Once a year we sell one or more of our homes to first-time home buyers for less than $25,000 . This is done to bless a family or individual in need, but also as a tax deduction for us. »

The listing’s description said real estate agents, lenders, investors, wholesalers and attorneys should not inquire further, according to the Kansas City Star. It directed interested buyers to contact a person named Mandi at a phone number with a Las Vegas area code.

The newspaper said that when it tried to contact Mandi, it received a response asking potential buyers to send $200 through an online banking app to the “owner’s mother.” It stated that a tour of the house would be conducted and a refund would be given to anyone who did not make an offer.

The listing was removed last week, but it’s unclear how long it was online. Requests for comment to the Bertrams by phone and email were not immediately returned.

These scams are relatively common

Despite their brazenness, real estate scams are quite common.

In 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded more than 880,000 complaints about Internet scams, totaling $12.5 billion in losses. That represents a 49% increase in the amount of money reported lost in 2022, according to FBI data cited by BI’s Jordan Pandy in March.

Real estate scams are a particularly widespread crime on the Internet.

According to the FBI, real estate wire fraud is classified as a business email compromise (BEC). In that of the FBI Annual Report of the Internet Crime Complaint CenterBEC ranked as the second costliest crime in 2022, after investment fraud, with reported losses totaling $2.9 billion.

Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows that in 2023, more than 9,500 people across the country filed complaints of real estate fraud.

Homebuyers are currently easy prey for fraudsters.

In a real estate market marked by high prices and few available homes, many potential buyers are eager to score a good deal. Scammers, motivated by the chance to make hundreds or even thousands of dollars, may turn to real estate marketplaces like Zillow. Taking advantage of anonymity, they can create listings with attractive descriptions and unrealistic prices to lure unsuspecting buyers.

In November, Galen Caldwell told news channel KIRO 7 that his $1 million Seattle home was listed for sale on Zillow without his consent, priced at $10,245. The incident was linked to the Bertrams’ situation by CBS News. Also in Caldwell’s case, a scammer asked potential buyers to contact “Mandi” in Las Vegas and send $245 to the seller’s mother.

The Caldwell and Bertram inscriptions have since been removed.

But Bertram said he and his wife still get inquiries from people wanting to buy their homes.

“I’m kind of stuck here,” Bertram told the Kansas City Star. “People want to see the house. It’s just a total scam.”

Read the original article on Business Insider