Question: My husband, a newly licensed real estate agent, is being scammed. His current client is a homebuyer who wants to move to San Jose. I saw their text messages and emails. It isn’t reassuring. The exchanges are about investing in crypto. Each time my husband emailed a new listing to this client, the homebuyer changed the subject back to crypto. What’s more alarming, the homebuyer wants to discuss our retirement plans rather than homes for sale.
How can I persuade my husband to drop this homebuyer? My husband doesn’t see a problem, but I sure do.
Answer: It would be best to stay vigilant — scammers prey on all ages and socioeconomic levels. Try to sell a car online nowadays; most inquiries are from fraudsters or unethical resellers posing as car buyers. When it comes to more lofty financial items such as real estate, it’s a scammer’s paradise. Criminals usually prey on parties to a transaction, such as home sellers, escrow officers and homebuyers. It makes sense that a fraudster or unethical salesperson would eventually target Silicon Valley real estate.
A lot of fraudsters do their homework. This one did not. A newly licensed real estate agent will not be flush with cash. Real estate agents know that the first six months of their careers will be financially sparse. Targeting a new Silicon Valley real estate agent with historic low-housing inventory and record-breaking high Realtor memberships is a fool’s errand. Regardless, don’t be fooled. Your husband must inform the crypto-selling homebuyer to restrict the dialogue to the homebuying process via Gmail. Plus, let the “client” know that after he buys a house, you’ll be happy to have a Zoom meeting to hear about the joys of cryptocurrency.
After finishing my response to your concerns, I found an article online published February 23, 2023. It’s a coincidence I won’t soon forget, nor will you:
The Top Scams of 2022 according to the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice.
Here are some highlights from 2022:
• Investment scams were huge, with reported losses of $3.8 billion. That’s more than people lost to any other scam, and more than double the loss reported in 2021.
• Impersonator scams were still the most-reported scam, with reported losses of $2.6 billion. The difference this year? Higher losses to business impostor: 2022 losses were $660 million, compared to $453 million in 2021.
• If people paid a scammer, the biggest reported losses were through bank transfers ($1.5 billion reported lost to scams) and cryptocurrency ($1.4 billion reported lost).
• When the scam started on social media, people reported losing the most money overall to scammers ($1.2 billion). But when the scammer called the per-person loss was the highest ($1,400 median loss).
• Young adults (ages 20-29) reported losing money more often than older adults (ages 70-79). But when older adults did lose money, they lost more than anyone else.
Check out the graphic for the Top 5 Scams of 2022and read the FTC’s data book for all the details — including what happened in your state.
For Housing Market Data in your area, visit my webpage for trends here. Do you have questions about home buying or selling? Full-service Realtor Pat Kapowich is a Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager and career-long consumer protection advocate. He is based in his hometown of Sunnyvale, California. Office: 408-245-7700; Broker# 00979413 [email protected]