I will say that fully 60% of the things I found on Craigs List, Trullia and other sites as pertaining to properties in the area were fraudulent.
There was a time a few weeks ago that I was dealing with the Ocala Police as well as Marion County Sheriff's with one such scam. What the scammer did not count on is what I know and can do on the internet.
I had a fully approved application for a property in the name "Marlin Perkins" (Mutual of Omaha). I had four wives (Mormon) and for pets I had five Alpaca. All approved. I was able to find where in California the emails were from, track the cell number to a tower in Colorado and the "sender" even sent a contract FedEx to the Marion County Sheriff's office.
Granted, I did more than my due diligence in tracking down this scam. I have not yet heard on the back side the result. But, I understand that there was video of whom ever sending a FedEx to the cop shop (you would think they would Google the address?!?!?).
Easily 60% - even spoke to more than one real estate agent who said they are not so public with how prevelant the situation really is - both for the seller and the buyer. ALWAYS ALWAYS verify and if you have a transaction for something on sale - do it at a police station (public place is not good enough, go to a police station).
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