Incredible scam arrogance: a woman found photos of her house on the real estate listing portal

The growing demand for homes to buy and rent soon took advantage of scammers who profit from the trust of the people. On social media, people, mostly from Vilnius, share suspicious or fake real estate ads and warn not to get caught up in the scam. These messages can be divided into several parts. Some ads contain photos of apartments stolen from foreign real estate portals, while the authors of others do not even bother to surf the Internet for a long time: they take photos of homes in Lithuania from older, often invalid ads. Sometimes fake real estate ads don’t have photos at all. The common feature of all fake real estate listings is that their authors encourage faster deposit transfers, even without inspecting the home.

One of the most recent and arrogant cases recorded on social media: a woman found an offer to buy a house on the real estate listing portal and photos of her house were added. Lithuania asked what should be done in such a case.

Those looking for rental housing are more often misled

There are no statistics on the number of fake real estate ads placed on advertising portals and social networks during a certain period of time. How many people get caught on the hook of the scam and suffer financially, the data is also not available. As the representative of the Lithuanian police Ramūnas Matonis informed Delfi Būstas, general fraud statistics are collected and according to the latest data, there has been an increase in fraud during the 8 months of this year (11.7%).

Real estate analyst Arnoldas Antanavičius notes that the activation of scammers is especially noticeable on social media.

“In social networks, it is noticed that people share fraudulent ads with each other, warning them not to get caught”, comments the interviewee.

The real estate expert continues to see more frequent attempts to mislead residents looking for rental housing.

“In case of rent, pressure is applied and an advance is requested, otherwise the apartment will soon be rented to third parties. In the case of listings for sale, it is rarer to post photos of someone else’s home and announce that it is for sale. In any case, they will not sell a house without an owner ”, emphasizes A. Antanavičius.

Therefore, if photos of your house or apartment appeared on the real estate advertisement portal, you should not worry about losing the property, but it is worth reporting such cases to the police.

Check ownership documents

According to real estate analyst A. Antanavičius, the activation of scams is a reflection of the current real estate market. If the fraudster succeeds in misleading the tenant or buyer, market participants are quick to buy, rent, fail to assess risks, and remain misled. Marius Čiulada, head of the Old Town office of the Ober-Haus real estate agency, recalls that the activation of scammers in the purchase and sale of houses, especially in the rental segments, is registered every autumn, usually in September-October.

“There are former scammers who also sold fake contact lists, promoted a fake object for a good price and collected the deposit from trusted people, and there is no apartment. It is true that most cases of fraud are registered in the market of the rental with rental objects, because there is more dynamics in this market ”, emphasizes M. Čiulada.

The interviewee also argues that the statistics on fraud in the real estate market are not collected separately, which is incorrect because it is not clear what the real magnitude of such crimes is and how many people are affected by the scams.

“How to avoid losses? The advice is very simple: be sure to contact the owner or an authorized representative of the owner, agencies that value reputation. It is also necessary to avoid asking for ownership documents, other proof that a person has the right to rent that house, the right to rent it is not restricted for certain reasons, etc. ”, Says the interlocutor.

The real estate expert highlights that both in the case of rent and purchase, no money can be paid under any circumstances until the corresponding documents have been signed.

“In case of purchase, it is not possible to pay deposits, etc. until contracts or other documents are signed. It is important to check the documents, see who the owner is. There is really no need to rush, and if you see that a person is obviously in a hurry to pay money, make a decision, it is better to reject that offer ”, advises the interlocutor.

According to M. Čiulada, when evaluating whether the real estate advertisement is real, the photos should not be forgotten. Today, internet search engines (Google) can check if your ad photos are original or stolen from other websites. Also, of course, without inspecting the apartment live, it is not necessary to pay an advance.

“The price is likely to be more attractive in such cases as well; this is how more interest is expected, especially now that the market is active, so in such confusion, people are expecting a loyal buyer who can take advantage. Our advice is to sign. contracts or other documents before paying. And in doing so, it is necessary to find out if a person really owns that property or if he is authorized to dispose of that property, “says M. Čiulada.