11/13/2025
BE ON ALERT! There is a major, wide scale scam happening and it is affecting our area of WV! About 2 weeks ago I received a phone call, a text message and an email from someone wanting to sell a property in Hardy County. I did a lot of research on the property which was located in Ashton Woods where I have sold many, many many properties and got back to the caller with a property valuation. We had more conversations concerning this $200,000 plus value property and I prepared the listing agreement which they signed. Now folks this is not unusual because I've sold many properties this way from folks who live in distant states and want to sell their property. But, I had that urging from the Holy Spirit that maybe something was not right. I then asked this seller to send me his and his wife's driver's license. Wow! I promptly received both driver's licenses. I still felt like something was off on this. I contacted the Hardy County sheriff's office and was connected with deputy JT Miller. I will say he was absolutely awesome! I explained the situation and I sent him pictures of the driver's licenses. Now some additional background info, back in the spring I had a similar situation in Hampshire County where a property was only one week away from closing and I got a phone call from a lady saying why do you have a for sale sign on my property... And I said well who are you? She claimed to be the real owner. I reached out to the first person who had me list the property and who had signed the contract for both the listing and the sale and she said she was the owner of the property and both provided me with a driver's license. On this one I got to the bottom of it myself thanks to Facebook! I realized that the second caller was the true owner of the property. I then contacted the FBI in Pennsylvania because that's where the seller was from and where the driver's licenses had been issued. They took down all the info and said they would call me back and they never did!!! I could not believe they did not care about this scammer. I reached out to the attorney's and got the sale stopped! Very sad for the buyer who really wanted the property. Now back to this Hardy County property... Well thankfully deputy JT Miller was able to take the driver's licenses that I had sent him and ran a check on them and wow it was not the actual owners photo on the driver's licenses! The scammers are sophisticated! They will provide a real looking driver's license! Now yesterday my agent Earl Snyder sent me a new listing for a property also in Hardy County just land and I put him on the alert because he informed me that they were wanting to sell quickly. I had him ask for their driver's licenses and they again promptly provided driver's licenses for both husband and wife. I told him to send them to deputy Miller and he did so. I received a phone call this morning from deputy Miller informing me that this was indeed a fake ID! He also informed me that the property from two weeks ago he had noticed was listed again on a prominent real estate site. He called the listing agent and said hey can you send me the driver's license because this has been a fake seller. Again they had a completely different driver's license with completely different photos that were fake! So to all real estate professionals please be on the alert!! Even an attorney will accept a driver's license and these scammers are so sophisticated they will get a driver's license with their actual picture on it because they know they must present the driver's license in front of a notary to sign the selling documents which they then of course have their funds transferred into a bank account! This is quite sophisticated and is truly stolen identity but even more than that they will steal your land! So if any of you have land in any location that you don't live on please have a neighbor check on it and be on the alert if any for sale signs go up on the property. I hope all this makes sense and I'm just trying to get the word out and I certainly commend JT Miller for taking to heart and truly caring about the people of the community! In my experience in Hampshire County when I ended up contacting the FBI in Pennsylvania they never did call me back because they did not care but I will say that JT Miller truly cares! Just be on the alert and let all real estate professionals that you know of to be aware of all this scamming!
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