Fraud Alerts

Every Day, citizens of Nevada and others throughout the country face the potential for various frauds and scams. Below are some of the top scams facing the citizens of our State.

TIME-SHARE OWNER ALERT

As a time-share owner you may be contacted by a person or company either wanting to buy your time share or claiming to have a ready buyer. The catch is that these people or companies want you to pay money up front for this service.

Please be advised that in the normal real estate transaction, the seller does not pay any money for commissions, title search or anything else until the actual close of escrow and then through a reputable escrow company only. If you are approached with one of these proposals, please make sure that you do not send money or give out a credit card number in advance of the closing with a reputable escrow company. If the proposal is real, the contact should be more then happy to wait for the close of escrow to get his money.

CREDIT ALERT

People with good credit are being approached and asked if someone can “use” their good credit to purchase a property. The person with the good credit is offered from $5,000 to $10,000 for this service. The person with good credit is promised that the mortgage and taxes will be paid and that after a period of time, typically one to two years, that the other person will re-finance or sell the property and share profits.

First of all, if you agree to this scheme you may be committing LOAN FRAUD. This is very serious.
Secondly, the loan is in your name. The person approaching you will generally have you sign many papers, one of which gives that person the ability to rent or even sell the property. What has happened is that the person collects rents, option money and any other income while not paying the mortgage or up-keep of any type on the property. Eventually the property mortgage, under your name, goes into default and foreclosure. This will ruin your credit and possibly subject you to civil and even criminal problems.

FORECLOSURE ALERT

If your property mortgage is delinquent and you are facing foreclosure, you may be contacted by a person or company willing to take the property off your hands to save your credit. While some of these companies are actually good and do help, others are not.

Do not sign anything that you do not understand or that is blank.
Go through a reputable escrow company to make sure that your mortgage(s) is paid off to the satisfaction of the lender(s).
If you do not do this, you may find that the person or company has title to or owns your property, yet the mortgage is still in your name.
The person or company pays nothing to the mortgage(s) holder. The foreclosure happens. Your credit is ruined while the company “saving” your credit has made money from your property by renting it until the foreclosure.

She (or He) fell in love with you on the internet and wants to marry you soon.
It happens every day; you met someone online via a dating service, or perhaps in a chat room. Then, within just a short period of time, that person takes a liking to you and would love to be with you for the rest of their lives. One small problem! They just so happen to be living in over seas right now in Africa or Nigeria and as soon as you can help them get home with financial support, true bliss awaits.

What are the signs?

1. The person you met says they live in your area but just happens to be in another country.

2. The person has an immediate financial hardship such as a medical condition or the inability to pay their hotel, or other financial crises and they need your immediate financial assistance.

3. The person either asks you to wire them money, or will offer to send you a cashiers check or money order from their “employer” at which time they will ask you to cash the item at a check cashing store or deposit it into your bank and immediately wire them the funds back.

Don’t fall victim! Generally, if you have never met a person, then you shouldn’t be providing financial support to them. If a person on a dating service indicates they live in your area but just so happens to be out of the country and needing cash now, don’t send cash or cash the check, as it most cases it will be a fraud and you will be out the money.

You’re renting an apartment or home and placed an ad on a web site such as Craig’s List or E bay.

1) The person wants to rent your property immediately but just happens to be moving from another state or country and has not yet arrived in town to meet you.

2) The person sends you a bank check or money order for 2-3 times the amount you are asking for in a deposit.

3) The person then asks you to hold the rental but send back the overage sent to you via wire transfer and gives you no reasonable explanation why they overpaid you on the deposit.

Don’t fall victim! If the person wants to rent your property, ensure that they are legitimate. Call references; verify with other parties that they are who they say they are. Never accept more then your asking for in a deposit and never send back a refund via wire transfer.

1) You receive an e mail asking to confirm certain information to collect your winnings from the Royal Canadian Lotto or other country Lottery. The person first approaches you via e mail and informs you that you have won a large amount of money.

2) The person gets your address and sends you an official bank check or other type of check for a small portion of your winnings to cover certain costs or “taxes.”

3) The Person asks you to go to a check cashing store or bank to cash or deposit the item. Once you do so, they instruct you to wire a portion of the money back to them at which time they will send you the “grand prize check.”

Don’t fall victim! As the old saying goes, you can’t win if you don’t play. Random out of country lotteries are scams. No one will ever contact you and offer to send you partial proceeds. Never wire money to pay for taxes or other fees, as in all known cases, the check is counterfeit and you will be responsible for its repayment from the check casher or bank.

1) The person who purchases your item is out of town or lives out of the country

3) The person is anxious to pay you but doesn’t have pay pal or another known payment service.

4) The person offers to send you a guaranteed “bank check” or money order and asks that upon receipt you immediately send them the merchandise.

Don’t fall victim! Scammers will send you a counterfeit check and ask you to send them your merchandise for sale. Once you deposit or cash the check, it may be returned counterfeit. Never send an item unless you’re sure the method of payment is valid. If you do accept a check or money order, give it at least 10 days to clear prior to shipping the item.