FALCON (KOAA) — A Colorado couple thought they found the perfect plot of land to build a small cabin on, and they nearly handed $75,000 straight to a scammer.
That couple wants to warn others and hopes the person or people behind the scam don't get away with tricking others.
"We've been married almost 33 years now this summer, and we've talked about it our entire marriage, and that's just having a little piece of land to call our own," Amy Lathen explained while sitting next to her husband Bob. "We found this one piece of property. I called an agent, and we set up our relationship with that agent, and we went up and took a look at this land, and we both fell in love."
The five-acre plot was in the Guffey area within Park County.
"I went to the property with the agent," Amy said. "I mean, as soon as I got on the property, I just knew, you just know... I just had this feeling of peace about it. And Bob was not with me at the time, and I said, I've got to bring Bob back up here."
Amy's excitement only grew as they went through the typical process. They had a real estate agent they trusted, and a woman representing the seller was associated with one of the biggest real estate companies in the country. News5 is choosing not to identify the company or the real estate agent for the alleged seller, but the company sent a statement explaining that each office works independently.
The Lathen's even did their own homework.
"We even looked the owner up," Amy added. "We We did some, some, you know, poking around on social media and and I it didn't even occur to us that this couldn't be legitimate."
It wasn't legitimate. The Lathen's dream piece of land was nearly a nightmare, and they ended up almost handing $75,000 straight to a scammer.
It turns out, the real estate agent representing the seller had been tricked. The true property owner wasn't even involved. The property had been listed for months. News5 spoke to the real estate agent who was working on behalf of the scammer, and she said she was embarrassed. She said that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, that the scammer worked with her over email and the phone. News5 obtained the contact information for the scammer and reached out last week, but we have yet to hear back.
The unsung hero in this situation was a woman named Linda who works for Core Title Group. Linda explained that the real estate agent who was working on behalf of the scammer felt something was off before coming to the closing table, and asked Linda to dig around a bit more.
"She's a fantastic closer," Brian Cooper the President and Owner of Core Title Group said. "Many of our closers have caught these things and stopped them prior to any loss taken place, but Linda was on this... all the red flags jumped right out at her. The seller was not available by phone, strictly by text, and email. Wanted to use his own notary. Was, of course, out of state, unavailable. So she picked up on every flag and just called him on it."
Cooper explained that they have to deal with attempts of wire fraud almost daily.
"There's AI voice and video fraud, which is becoming a huge concern," Cooper stated. "And there's seller identity fraud, which this situation was."
Cooper says that staying ahead of the scammers has become a full job in itself. They even changed up their process recently, doing ID verification right up front because of the amount of scam attempts. Cooper adds that thankfully, they've never been tricked by a scammer.
When Amy first heard her dream property was a scam, she held onto hope that it wasn't true.
"He said that there's a 98 percent chance that this is fraud," Bob said as he referenced receiving a call from their agent. "And I was like, how can that be? Let's hold that hope for that 2 percent, and then that weekend, we found out that it was 100% fraud."
Amy came to News5 wanting to spread the word about this scam attempt, hoping to protect others. She also doesn't want the person or people behind it to get away.
"That guy is still out there, and it ticks me off," Amy said of the scammer. "So I want, I would love if law enforcement could track him down. And I want people to realize that even if you see something listed again by one of the biggest real estate companies in the country, don't assume it's legit. Don't assume they've done all their due diligence."
Amy took all the right steps, filing a complaint with the Colorado Attorney General's Office, notifying law enforcement in Pueblo where the fake documents were submitted by the scammer, and authorities in Park County where the land was.
Amy contacted the actual owner, still set on getting that piece of land, but says he doesn't want to sell. They are still on the hunt for the perfect spot for a cabin, but now they know a lot more about what is known as a "Land Swap Scam."
LAND SWAP SCAMS
The National Association of Realtors explains what a Land Swap Scam is through an informational video.
"Scammers comb through public records and flag vacant parcels of land and properties that don’t have a mortgage or other lien," the video explains. "Then, they’ll pose as the landowner, asking a real estate agent to list the property."
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) adds what to be on the lookout for:
- The “seller” requests to sell a vacant property for less than its fair market value.
- The “seller” only communicates electronically. Many of these imposters are out of state or from a different country and will decline face-to-face meetings, Lee says.
- The “seller” typically requests a remote closing using a remote notary—whom they’ll arrange on their own. Beware: The scammer may even impersonate the notary and provide fraudulent documents at closing.
In the case of the Lathen's, Amy said she believes the scammer was pretending to be living at a medical facility to further conceal their identity.
Real estate pros should do their due diligence to verify that any person claiming to be the seller is the actual property owner, a representative with the National Association of Realtors adds. Ask for multiple forms of identification and proof of ownership, and request a face-to-face meeting. Many of these scammers will only communicate electronically. Test the seller’s knowledge about the property using information beyond what can be found in public records or online.
Click here to read more from the NAR.
The more people who file complaints, the better chance these scammers can be caught. You can file a complaint at the state level by clicking here, and through the FBI by clicking here.
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