09/13/2025
⚠️ALERT: ⚠️. I wanted to reach out to Real Estate Agents and Contractors to publically create awareness about a SCAM which involves contacting contractors to do projects. A "homeowner" recently contacted our company wanting to have work done on their home.
Further research indicated to us that the "homeowner" did not in fact own the home and the home was actually listed for sale. This was the first red flag. We further inquired with two real estate agents. We contacted the one who was listed on the property and had a very enlightening conversation. She also happened to be involved in fraud prevention and was thankful we contacted her. She stated outright it was a scam and has software to determine and trace numbers. We were encouraged to notify her if this happened again. On the real estate side people have almost made it to closing and when money is deposited into escrow accounts it dispersed faster they they can trace sometimes.
The property we were called to do an estimate for abutted a set of railroad tracks. I do not know what the purpose of contacting us for was, other than to attempt to meet with us at a specific location for something sinister, or whether it was just to waste our valuable time.
The last thing we want is to see a contractor be called to a location for an estimate and have their livelihoods raided. I am not trying to cause fear, but rather am sending out a warning for contractors to look up locations they are called to do estimates for. Zillow, Redfin and other sites have property information available.
Check in with real estate agents on listing if a property is listed for sale to get the whole picture. This is important to make sure you have the latest information if a property appears to be for sale. It is also important because a real estate agent and the seller needs to know and should know if their properties are being used as part of scam.