Who is your agent? Lessons in identity theft.
Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team (our Monday guy) warns that mistakes happen when people move too fast without fully understanding what they are getting into. Verify who you are working with before you hand over confidential information or money.
Whether buying or renting, finding the right home can be a challenge. Once found, it’s natural to think that others will also be interested in it. Most people react by getting excited and move quickly to make an offer or rental application to assure that someone else doesn’t get the property first.
Mary and Jane, two smart young women searching for an apartment together, looked at a dozen apartments and didn’t find anything that worked at their price point before they found an online post describing the perfect apartment at a great price. They called and dropped everything to rush over and meet the agent at the apartment. The apartment was perfect, so they went back to the agent’s office to fill out applications and put down a deposit to hold the apartment.
The applications required their Social Security numbers, birth dates and permission to run a credit check. They agent copied their licenses. Because they were just out of college, the agent said they needed co-signers. Their parents filled out co-signer agreements, including similar information for the agent to get their credit reports.
After reviewing their credit, everything looked good and the agent was sure that the landlord would accept them. All he needed to submit the application was a money order for the balance of the first month’s rent. The parents arranged to wire the money to the agent's account instead.
Mary's dad confirmed that Mary had Googled the agent and brokerage office, because she had previously shied away from dealing with other agents with bad online reports. Mary Googled the agent and brokerage twice, but nothing came up. Mary's dad knew that agents and brokers must be licensed. He went to the state’s licensing website to confirm that the agent and brokerage were properly licensed to handle their money. Neither appeared in the database. After some double-talk from the agent, they called off the transaction.
It’s likely that Mary and Jane avoided turning their money over to a scam artist. Unfortunately, they found out later that they did compromised their identities. The women and their parents had to take steps to insure that the so-called agent, or someone he can sell their identities to, will not steal their identities or credit in the future.
PERSPECTIVE:
Real estate consumers can research and decide who they want to deal with up front, but few do. Renters and buyers should check an agent and brokerage’s online reputation and license status before they provide any money or information that could be compromised later.
Have you ever been scammed in a real estate purchase or rental transaction?
What did it cost you?
How did you protect yourself against identity theft?
