CLANTON, Ala. (WBRC) – A local real estate agent has a word of warning for those searching for homes online after a couple was scammed out of money.
There are scams around everything these days, but after a couple lost thousands of dollars, one real estate agent says this story drove home the importance of staying safe when house hunting online.
“I've never seen anything this bad. I mean, someone just stole $2,000 from these people,” says real estate agent Cody Cummings.
Cummings has been a real estate agent for seven years. He's seen countless scams in the housing industry, but never saw anyone fall victim to them until he recently received a strange phone call from one of his clients who was putting his house up for sale in Clanton. I say.
“They were like, 'We're going to rent this house on February 7th because we were going to meet Anthony here,'” Cummings recounted what the couple told her client.
Cummings' clients explained to the couple that the house was not a rental, and it was only when the couple started showing online messages that everyone realized the couple had been scammed.
“He starts looking at this guy's profile and basically this random person finds a listing on Facebook Marketplace, tears up the photo and puts it back as a rental, buys this as a rental and tells people that “I found out I had a $2,000 bond,” Cummings said.
Cummings says there are rules that remain the same when it comes to buying and renting.
“As a general rule, if you don't have legal documents, you shouldn't send money to people. Usually the money goes through these third-party companies, Zelle, Cashapp, check or wire, or something like that. It's not going to be done.'' That's it,'' Cummings said.
Cummings says if you don't take proper precautions, you can unfortunately end up in the same situation as this couple.
“Especially in a situation like this, where you don't know who the person is or even who they are, there's surprisingly no recourse. No fake name, no photo, no information other than the Zelle account,” Cummings said. said.
Another good rule of thumb, Cummings says, is to vet the people and agents listing rental homes. Make sure it's a legitimate company or verify that the person is the rightful owner of the home through property records.
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