09/04/2026
Seller Impersonation Fraud:🤷♂️
:::::IMPORTANT READ::::
(I wrote this post, but got an AI spell check) this is a "REAL" post. This can involve you if you own property.
This week alone, I've had two different people reach out completely out of the blue asking me to list a property for them. Neither one turned out to be the actual owner. I see this maybe once a quarter normally — having it happen twice in one week is a lot.
Here's how it usually goes: someone emails or messages claiming to own a piece of land (vacant land is a favorite target, because no one's watching it day to day). They know the parcel numbers, the county, the acreage — they sound completely legitimate. In this week's case, the "seller" signed the email with the name of a real person tied to that property. One guy even called and texted me for a Client Market Analysis.
This is a real and growing scam called seller impersonation fraud, or title theft. It works like this: scammers target vacant, out-of-state-owned, or inherited land, impersonate the real owner, and use a fake ID to get through identity checks. Because so many closings now happen through Remote Online Notarization, they never have to show up in person or meet anyone face to face. They set up a bank account under the fake identity, sell the property for well below market value to move fast, and once the deed transfers and the money hits their account, they're gone.
The scary part: title companies do check ID, but they're not private investigators😟😟 — a convincing fake can slip through. The buyer's agent has no reason to suspect anything; a deal just appeared with a motivated seller and a great price. The listing agent doesn't know either. And the real owner — the person who actually owns the property — often has no idea any of this happened until long after the deed has already changed hands. By then, they're just... out of a property they've owned, sometimes for years, sometimes never having listed it at all.
This is happening more often than people realize.
A few ways to help protect yourself or your clients:
Set a Google Alert for your property address and street name, so you're notified if it ever turns up in a listing.
Check Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and other for-sale-by-owner sites for your address every so often.
Sign up for your county's free property fraud alert service — Guadalupe County and Comal County both offer one that emails you any time a document is recorded against your property.
If you own vacant or inherited land, especially land you don't visit often, check on it periodically for signs or activity you didn't authorize.
As agents: verify sellers with a live video call and more than one form of ID, and slow down on deals with unusually low prices, absentee or hard-to-reach "owners," or pressure to rush to closing.
If something feels off, call the county clerk or a title company before moving forward — not after.
Please share this. The more people who know this is happening, the harder it is for it to keep working.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1050492437378726
John
