On February 8, former Flagler County resident Raymond Spiewak got a call from his son. Spiewak, now living in Massachusetts, was told that there had been a strong offer on his 12,000 square foot lot in Palm Coast’s L Section.
Spiewak didn’t have an interest in selling the lot, which he bought in 2016. He was planning on building a retirement home on the land one day. Still, he figured he should log onto Zillow.com, the biggest real estate listing website, and see what other lots in the area were selling for. That’s when he got a shock that just about knocked him out of his chair.
His lot was listed for sale.
How? Why? And, huh? He hadn’t listed it, nor had anyone in his family. “You just sit there staring at it for a minute like, ‘how could this be?’” Spiewak said.
So Spiewak did a little investigating, and learned what many other landowners are discovering these days: Fraudulent listings, and scam artists pretending to own property to make a quick buck, are prevalent everywhere.
The police, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies are trying to keep up, but the criminals are usually one step ahead.
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