ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A rural piece of property along Haas Road in Apopka was recently listed for sale by four different real estate agents, while the actual owners had no idea.
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The person claiming to own the property used fraudulent identification with the real owner’s information on it.
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It’s an increasingly more common scheme that could end up costing the potential buyer thousands.
The property on Haas Rd. made up the retirement plan for Betsy Berkland and her husband.
“It’s going to be our forever home,” Berkland said.
So when pictures popped up showing the property for sale online, Betsy says her phone started ringing off the hook with people asking if she had listed her house.
“And I said nope, our plan is the same,” Berkland said. “But I did go on Zillow, and there it was.”
It was posted by Real Estate Agent George Crawford after a scammer who created fake driver’s licenses with the Berlands’ real information on them sent over scans of those IDs with all the signed documentation required to list.
🚨CONSUMER ALERT🚨
Spear-phishing attacks are individualized and more specific than the common scam messages we see—and that is what makes them more dangerous.
View my latest Consumer Alert for more information⬇️https://t.co/BstF8Cq0LS pic.twitter.com/VVmvppB1gz
— AG Ashley Moody (@AGAshleyMoody) August…
