In December, a Quincy real estate broker pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. The state says he stole nearly $2 million in real estate deposits and through scams such as marketing properties that weren’t for sale, cashing more than 60 checks between 2017 and April 2020.
To avoid schemes like this, it’s important for consumers to recognize the signs of real estate fraud.
It can take many forms.
Rachel Foy, broker/owner of Hillman Homes in Newton, said one of the most common scams home shoppers face is a faux listing: when scammers use the information from a legitimate listing and pose as the real estate agent on Craigslist or another online platform, tricking people into sending them down payments or security deposits.
“This scam is the rental market equivalent of catfishing, and while it’s not new, we want the public to be aware of the increased risks during the pandemic,’’ Maura Healey, Massachusetts attorney general, said in an online statement in 2020.
Healey’s office told the Globe last week that it has received several such complaints, but despite the shift to virtual tours early on in the pandemic, there has not been an increase in real estate fraud overall even though it is easier for con artists to scam prospective buyers with no face-to-face meetings.
The attorney general’s office calls for “inspecting…
