A New Hampshire couple bought some land to build a home and then learned someone else was trying to sell it. The FBI says this is not an isolated case, 7’s Dave Puglisi is taking a closer look.
Laurie and Joe Mallenfant were designing their future and preparing to build their dream home, where they hoped to retire.
Property owner Joe Mallenfant described the property as a “scenic place” with “lots of wildlife.”
But their dream property has been caught up in a less than ideal situation.
Scammers posing as the land owner tried to sell it, leading to the Mallenfants being flooded with calls, texts, and emails from realtors asking for details.
Laurie Mallenfant described it as a “barrage” of messages and said the fear of losing their dream shook the couple up.
The scammers, known as title pirates, will often forge documents and contact realtors in the hopes of conning them into a quick sale of the property.
Licensed realtor Tyler Costa was among the people contacted and said he was told a couple from Texas was looking to sell the property in a hurry. He said he was suspicious and checked to make sure the seller was legit.
“I always double-check and use the resources I have to make sure,” he said.
FBI Special Agent Vivian Barrios says the scam usually involves elaborate ways to commit identity theft.
“The most common target that we see are properties where there has been no development on it,” Barrios told 7NEWS.
The FBI says 2,300 people across New England have fallen victim to this type of scam but Barrios believes to true number could be much higher.
“A number of homeowners may not even realize that their properties have been sold at this point and we also believe there may be a number of people including in Massachusetts who haven’t reported it potentially because they’re embarrassed,” she said.
Police traced the Mallenfant’s scammers to Nigeria and after a confrontation the sale offers stopped — but only for a…