In January 2023, RIAR first warned REALTORS® about vacant land scams.  A scammer would pose as an owner of vacant land and ask a REALTOR® to list it.  The scammer would use sophisticated, forged documents to try to convince REALTORS®, buyers, and closing attorneys to close the transaction so that the scammer could defraud the buyer of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

In February 2024, several REALTORS® have reported a new twist to this scam.  Different lead generation services have sent the contact information for a seller who wants to list his or her property for sale.  How do you know if this seller is the true owner of the property or a scammer who wants to defraud a buyer of hundreds of thousands of dollars?

Warning signs:

• Your brokerage is located in a different part of the state from the land or real estate. If you’re in Burrillville and a “seller” wants you to list a property, do some research, as other REALTORS® have done.
• The “seller” cannot meet with you in person because the seller is traveling or has moved to a different state. The seller will not agree to any type of video conferencing
• The “seller” is in a hurry to sell.

How to protect yourself and the real property owner:

• Schedule a time to meet in person or use video conferencing like Zoom, Facetime, Teams, etc. to meet.
• Check the municipal assessment records on-line to find the name and address of the owner of record of the land. The scammers may claim to have moved to California, Canada, South Africa, etc.
• Contact the municipal assessment office if the owner of record has updated his/her address

Some scammers use the same address multiple times until they find someone to list the property.  One REALTOR® reported that the scammer claimed that the property was vacant land, but the assessors’ office documented that the property had a house on it.  A respected closing attorney reported that a scammer has made multiple attempts to list the same property.

Verify phone numbers using Spokeo, White Pages, etc. Check phone numbers belonging to the seller at the address listed on assessment records. Do a reverse directory search for numbers that don’t correlate with that address. Two REALTORS® reported that they were provided with a phone number for the true property owner and a number for the scammer.

• Try contacting the property owner on social media.
• Ask to see a copy of a tax bill, statement, or other document with the seller’s address.
• Ask the person questions that are not part of the public record. For example, ask the person what kind of features the property has or why he or she bought the property.

Prevention:

• When you send mailings to a neighborhood or former clients and customers, consider encourage them to create a Google alert with the address of the property. If it is marketed or mentioned publicly, the owner will receive an alert. You can also do this with your own listings to help avoid other types of scams.

Next Steps:

If you believe that a scam is occurring, withdraw the listing from any sites, including Multiple Listing Services on which it is posted and report it to

• the police department in the town or city in which the property is located.
• the State Police and
• the FBI. Internet Crime Complaint Center(IC3) | File a Complaint

To avoid this and other scams, trust your instincts.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  For more information, contact the RIAR Legal Department at 401-432-6945 or email [email protected].