The California Department of Real Estate (“DRE”) recently published an alert warning real estate agents about a new scam regarding the sale of real property where the identity of the seller has not been verified.  In these circumstances, “fraudsters” will identify vacant land or a second home or rental property, which generally does not have a loan secured against it, and contact a real estate agent to list that property.  The fraudster does not own the property and once sold will abscond with the sales proceeds.  The real seller will likely be placed in a position of litigating the seller’s title with the new buyer.  It is likely that the agents and title company will also be involved in that litigation.

A link to the DRE’s alert is as follows:https://dre.ca.gov/files/pdf/adv/Advisory_2023_07_13_VacantLandPropertyScams.pdf.

Broker Risk Management (“BRM”) has sent a tip to its clients regarding this issue and recommendations for taking additional precautions.