Yesterday, a fellow Realtor told me about "buyers" for an expensive new house in our area. She had been contacted by an intermediary who lives here, but the so-called cash buyers are from Nigeria...a red flag if there ever was one. The go-between, who was originally contacted on the Internet, was supposed to check out properties for them with a Realtor, and then they would buy the house, sight unseen.
They started with a price range of under $2 million, but jumped up quickly to nearly $9 million.
My friend and I checked out Nigerian scams online, and found that there were several that involved real estate. I guess that people are finally getting suspicious when they are invited to share in millions for helping a complete stranger (widow, orphan, attorney, banker) to get money out of the country. Now they are turning to sellers and Realtors who may be affected by a slowing market, by offering a quick cash deal. The scam itself varies from a certified check that bounces later, to the need for a few hundred dollars because "their cash is tied up" and they need to pay their local lawyer. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
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