We have seen a lot of stories about squatters lately, however, as you can imagine, scammers are working all the angles to steal money & assets from unsuspecting victims. Recently, in Kansas City, KS, an elderly couple was scammed out of a nearby parcel of land they were planning to sell. They only found out that someone had already “sold” it when they spoke with a realtor about selling the asset.
“The empty lot is in the same neighborhood where they own a home, but the Werohas had no idea the land was being sold because no “For Sale” sign was ever placed on it. They only realized it had sold a month later, after Seree had been diagnosed with cancer and decided to simplify his financial portfolio for his family by selling his investment properties.”
According to Kansas City’s FOX4 Problem Solvers, what happened to the Werohas was one of the boldest land scams that they have ever seen. According to their report, the scammers provided the title company with fake driver’s licenses, claiming to be Seree and Sipa Weroha. But the photos in those fake licenses looked nothing at all like the real Werohas – who are both in their 70s, were born in Thailand, but have lived in the U.S. for 40 years. In addition, the fake sellers never appeared at the closing for the $26,000 transaction, claiming to live out of state. So, no one ever met them. AND the Massachusetts notary who stamped the paperwork told an investigator that his seal had been stolen.
“The title company – Alpha Title – reported the scam to the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. Both the title agent and Mercado, the listing agent, spoke to police. But that was more than a month ago and, so far, no arrests have been made.”
“An agent at Alpha Title said she provided police with dozens of documents, including a fake email set up by the scammers, the scammers bank account information (where they wanted the money transferred) and angry text messages from the scammers when Alpha put the brakes on the second deal.”
FOX4 says the Werohas are working with the title company’s insurance company to get their property back as well as putting a freeze on their credit.
Click here to read the full story at FOX4 Kansas City.
