Finding the right place for investment is an ecstatic yet frustrating process. To the point of right agent or company to the process of the transaction and legal documentation is like a rollercoaster of emotions and full of ups and downs and the biggest fear one has to face in such crucial time is any kind of scam or fraud because as buying, selling or investing in landholding is the biggest transaction or investment an individual or family embark on in their lives
According to the 2019 report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 11,677 lost more than 221 Million Dollars in America.
Motive of Fraudsters:
As we know that con-men’s are everywhere. No field is safe from the shackles of fraud, theft, etc. and the Real estate business has been on target of scammers for a long time now because of the pretty penny as well as exposed sensitive confidential information and while investing in real estate, scam and any kind of fraud is the biggest nightmare.
With the modernization in technology and capitalized world, even the scams are getting modern day by day. So an investor should always take precautionary measures in financing.
Just like every other marketing business, real estate has its own kind of scams, and today we are going to see some of the common scams that a person might or might not fall prey to
· Wire Transfer Fraud.
· Mortgage Scams.
· Rental Scams.
· Government Imposter Scam.
· Home Inspection Scams.
· House Titles and Deed Scam.
· Spurious Seminars.
· Foreclosure rescue Scams.
· Moving Scam
Wire Transfer Scam:
As we know that wire transfer is the most convenient way for transactions so the wire transfer scam is the most common fraud an investor experiences.
Scammers pretend as if they are from officials while using email technology to sham buyers for money. Email spoofing is the fraudulent way of spamming and phishing to wile audience into thinking that email came from an already trusted entity or legitimate source, the buyers or investors follow the falsified instructions and wiring to dispatch money or by hacking into their email address and accounts to access bank accounts, social security numbers, and other delicate information and that’s how chiselers can expropriate transactions and loot jillions of rupees.
Mortgage Scams:
Mortgage as we know means that it is to have a legal agreement with authorized sources under the pact of borrowing money to buy property, and in return, the moneylender takes proprietorship of the property if the lender fails to repay.
Mortgage Fraud Scam starts off with assurance of loan with low-interest rates. But when the loan is settled, the lender comes across higher interest rates and hidden charges. Some crooked lenders will seek attention with an attractive low-budgeted loan with refundable and easy installments perhaps the reality is non-refundable upfront loan fee or deposit. So the debtor is forced to accept the change in terms and conditions and forced to accept a higher amount or lose their property
Rental Scams:
This is a frequent scam that one person might experience while renting out any kind of place. It includes fake rental advertisements on any social platform by creating a fake portfolio with perfect housing capability also known as catfishing to attract an audience and attempt to collect payments from prospective clients. Most of the time, victims of swindlers are young adults or independent teenagers, vacation rentals, town shifters, and people who are first time renting a place where they are asked to deposit money as a security deposit or as advance payment and then they vanish into thin air after receiving money.
Another rental scam that is common nowadays where deceivers lie about amenities on property they are renting such as security, air conditioning, spacious rooms, in-built laundry, parking space, to increase the rental fee.
Government Imposter Scam:
It all starts when you are looking for a property or doing any kind of transaction. A might get a call, email, or text message from someone who will pretend to be an employee of a taxation agency. They will give you their fake names and ID, s to sound official. They will impose you for owning tax and paying them immediately if you oppose they will call you out and give the threat to call the police on you. People fall into this act and pay them the amount they ask for.
A lot of times, property dealers or agents are included in such gibberish acts. They share the sensitive information of potential clients that pays them a visit about their investments.
Home Titles and Deeds Scam:
Real estate title and mortgage fraud are on the spike lately. It happens when any person attempts to acquire your property deed without your own consent with the means of identity theft. Such scammers commit identity theft or tax fraud by making duplicative identity, and all the formal documentation that is required for property theft.
Indeed scams, the signatures of clients on the formal documentation are forged without the knowledge of the actual owner or about the property transference.
Home Inspection Scams:
Home inspections are very important for people investing in real to know about the property they are buying but sadly most of the time they are scammed by uncertified home assessors. This scam revolves around the mere goal of the huge amount of money and concealed or additional charges. Home inspections originally we know that they reveal every kind of big and small issue a property has like termites etc. which are going to scare off so they hide and tries to quickly sell the land.
Spurious Seminars:
Companies or agents across the world targets platform to gain the attention of people. As we know every day we come across different kinds of real estate seminars on a daily basis using technology like radio, television, and ads on a social media platform like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram to tempt people with the guarantee of getting rich overnight through investments in real estate by promoting or using their platform or agency.
Such seminars pretend to show the perfect market to invest whether it’s about buying or selling with limited seats. So they make you fill out different forms for future programs without keeping the information a secret.
Foreclosure Rescue Scams:
As with the prevailing inflation worldwide and financial distress that make an individual to follow this path but forlornly dishonest and fraudsters take benefit of misery. They reach out to you and declare to “Protect your home” or “reimburse your mortgage” but in real life, they quickly cash out and make a hefty profit and devalue your home. Scam artists can throw you out from your own property and they put it on sale in the open market.
Moving Scam:
As we all know that shifting can be a hustle and exhausting. Packing and unpacking goods, carrying boxes and cartons, Settlement in a new home. So, for our comfort, we hire moving agencies that take our worries away by doing everything on their own. To the point of loading everything to the arrangement. Everything becomes a duty of the agency
But not every time, it is safe and sound. Con-Men or devious companies while transferring your luggage raise their prices or else they will keep your precious furniture or cartons to themselves and you will be forced to pay them their desired amount.
Other than the followed types of scams, there are so many different ways to artifice clients in the real estate business’s we are facing an era of modern technology, there is evolution but it is not only limited to our ease and advancement as fraudulent ways are advancing too.
