Scammers posing as sellers for property they don’t own

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – If you have plans to buy property in the near future, be on the lookout.

Scammers are posing as property sellers and trying to sell something that they don’t even own.

As we all know, scammers are always trying to find new and innovative ways to trick people. If you’re trying to buy property in Oklahoma City or elsewhere, you might want to watch out for a property scam that even has the Oklahoma County Assessor talking about it.

“It’s very devious,” Oklahoma County Assessor Larry Stein said.

Stein said this very scam actually happened to someone that he knew. He found out the details when she gave him a call saying she just wanted to buy another property in a neighborhood that she already lived in. She used a popular real estate app to get notifications on newly listed properties.

“When they notified me, it was my house that was for sale for not the value of the property, which I didn’t want to sell anyway,” Stein said speaking on what this woman told him.

Stein said someone was trying to sell this woman’s $400,000 home for about $8,800. So, he gave them a call and said they claimed to be a nice family doing something out of the goodness of their heart by selling a home cheap to a first time home buyer.

“Her name was Mandy. She said, ‘don’t worry, we’re making a lot of money off of this,’” Stein said the scammer told him on the phone. “‘There’s nothing you can do about it. How does it feel to be scammed?’”

Stein said it’s another example of a too good to be true situation.

“But people are greedy and they think it’s a great deal,” he said.

Stein claimed they might ask for large sums of money or gift cards for a down payment. Don’t fall for it though. He said there’s a way to protect your property by registering with a free service through the Oklahoma County Clerks Office. They’ll notify you if a document comes through with your name or if someone tries to tamper with your deed. You can register for the free service at alert.okcc.online.

“If anybody was the victim of this terrible thing, call me, 405-713-1201 and we can let the OSBI know about it and the OSBI can investigate,” Stein said.