The Lake County Sheriff’s office has a warning about a string of real estate scams sprouting up in the county.
Detective lieutenant Brad Nixon said he’s taken a handful of reports within the last few days.
“The folks I’ve spoken to seem to be a variety from seniors to a younger generation. I don’t think they’re specific on who they’re targeting,” said Nixon.
He said a parcel of land was fraudulently listed for sale by a realtor out of Grand Haven.
Nixon said the realtor was real but the person selling the property was not the owner, even creating a fake ID using the real property owner’s information.
The sale was stopped after a neighbor noticed a for-sale sign on the property and inquired about it with the family of the property owner.
Nixon said he is investigating another similar incident in the county.
He said he also received some instances of people being contacted with offers they consider suspicious, ones that seem too good to be true.
“They received a letter from an out-of-state company offering an excessive amount of money to purchase their property. And they thought that was unusual. And obviously the amount was well beyond what someone should ask for that small of land. And so, they notified us of that. And there actually were two additional ones,” said Nixon.
Nixon said even though that company appears legitimate, there were lots of Better Business Bureau complaints against them.
He said property owners should do their research before buying or taking an offer on real estate and never give out personal information to unsolicited contacts.