

1,638,924
Research first.
It's ready-aim-fire...
not fire-ready-aim.
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Peter Testa
Danbury, CT
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Richard Bazinet /MBA, ...
Scottsdale, AZ
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Steven Nickens
Wailea, HI
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Barbara Todaro
Franklin, MA
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Ryan Huggins - Thousan...
Thousand Oaks, CA
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Thomas J. Nelson, REAL...
La Jolla, CA
613,494
Our first multi-million $$ buyer in south Florida was our ticket to the the good life...or so we thought. We were simply green and naive back then.
Buyer was setting up some "off-shore" convoluted financing that I did not understand...even the sellers attorney did not understand. A few red flags popped up.
We became suspicious, so had my private investigator client check him out. Buyer was actually in the "big house" and only owned a old pick-up.
That same evening we had the seller's 4 attorneys, the listing agent and Mike and I on a conference call, when one of the attorneys "got it' and said that if they do it that way the seller will end up with "0" money...
The buyer hung up...
The pieces fell into place and overnight we learned a big lesson. The scammer knew all about black cards, private airplanes, luxury cars and where the rich and famous go...he was really good.
After that I had the PI check out a couple more buyers who were also "fakes". One claimed to be the heir to a fortune and wanted to buy the top floors in a new Miami condo building.
The other buyer sent me a "proof of funds" letter ( from New Yersey) that looked sketchy. I called the doctors office to verify and later learned that the scammers girlfriend cleaned the doctors offices...and used his infomation. The real doctor called the police and the scammer called me to threaten me...seriously.
After that we moved to central Florida where my stories get boring. All my good stories are from South Florida.
We have had a couple of scammers here, but this time we are smarter...we cut them off quick and did not work them.
Eve
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Katerina Gasset
Provo, UT
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Christine Kankowski No...
Poway, CA
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Pete Xavier
Pacific Palisades, CA
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Kat Palmiotti
Kalispell, MT
5,546,505
WHOA! I hadn't read this one, Fred! Thanks for sharing. I'm becoming hardened to being surprised by these scammers; it seems like they are a dime a dozen these days.
I hope they lock him up and throw away the key!
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Peter Testa
Danbury, CT
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Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
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John Pusa
Glendale, CA
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
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Pete Xavier
Pacific Palisades, CA
343,098
Does NOT shock me at all - after all South Florida is, was and will be a sunny place for shady people!
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Katerina Gasset
Provo, UT
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
3,083,097
We caught this one before it got bad:
I got a call from the internet. Not surprising.
It was Dell's wife. Everything checked out.
They wanted to buy a house in Palm Beach.
Not surprising... most famous people want to own a house in Palm Beach or Jupiter Island.
They were flying in on their private jet.
They set everything up, we verified everything.
We set up the appointments with the 3 listings they wanted to see.
In Palm Beach the listing agent is always the one to show the property. You would never think of allowing people into one of those properties without the listing agent there and even security at times.
In order for you to see one of the listings in Palm Beach you have to first show your proof of funds, we need a financial letter from your bank or stockbroker.
The day of her plans- she told me she was still waiting for their attorney to get them their proof of funds letter. She then said her attorney was in court and that by the time she got here - she would have the letter.
She had been calling from Austin Texas, central time zone.
She screwed up when she said her attorney was in court in New York City - she gave a time when the courts were not opened yet. That was my clue.
We called the police in Palm Beach and they told us that this person was on the wanted list for doing this and what she did was she would steal stuff out of the homes. We alerted the listings agents, told them to be careful, not to let her into any of their listings.
She really did live in Austin they said, she was a past employee or something of the Dell family so she know a lot about them.
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Pete Xavier
Pacific Palisades, CA
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Katerina Gasset
Provo, UT
784,480
Just when you thought you've heard it all.
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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John Pusa
Glendale, CA
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Pete Xavier
Pacific Palisades, CA
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
4,412,692
Fred Griffin in several occasions, I have seen con artist from Middle-East pretending to be from honest wealthy noble families want to invest in real estate and businesses. Among them, there is a guy named Ergun always discussed about millions and billions drove Mercedes, it turned out Ergun didn't have a driver license nor owned a car. Strangly enough, people believe this kind of people.
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Peter Testa
Danbury, CT
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
5,385,069
No I haven't... and with a husband who did banking in the Middle East for decades I always have a source for someone to be vetted thoroughly.
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Peter Testa
Danbury, CT
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Bob Betel
Sweetwater, TN
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
5,774,106
Fred,
This quite the story, and no this has not happened to us. We have worked with high profile people and celebrities. They were referred to us by people we had a relationship with.
Living in Los Angeles, we were on guard for these type of scams...A
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
990,094
I've been played many times, many times I've struck gold as well.
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Peter Testa
Danbury, CT
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
3,446,856
I have not. I complete my due diligence on prospects before I buy what they are selling ... which is either a true story or a load of bologna!
I've been "played" in other ways and deceived a few times. I cost me my time and maybe $100.
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Beth Atalay
Clermont, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
1,112,527
Okay. This takes me back to Palm Springs in the 80s. So many scammers playing big roles. One of my girlfriends, a very prominent newscaster fell in love with a man who was supposed to be the grandson and heir to the Gulf gasoline business. I met him and thought he had way too much swagger for me, but by all accounts he seemed legit. We didn't have ways to research at that time. He got engaged to her. He didn't take her for a bunch of money but, her reputation was sterling. Because she was on his arm he got through. He left a trail of wreckage and unpaid bills a year-long and then disappeared.
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Pete Xavier
Pacific Palisades, CA
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John Pusa
Glendale, CA
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
921,504
Never swindled out of $50,000 but did get tricked into buying tilapia thinking I was ordering grouper. No Sultans were involved.
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Katerina Gasset
Provo, UT
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
6,763,393
An old saying out there, something about how it is impossible to con an honest man.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Bob Crane
Stevens Point, WI
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
5,554,814
When I worked with multifamily complexes, had a few imposters make a play. But, money talks and bull_hit walks quickly!
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
225,576
Very interesting story, and it shows what can happen if you treat people differently because of what they are buying and thinking about how much money you can make. Always check how deep the water is before you jump in
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Candice A. Donofrio
Fort Mohave, AZ
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
4,322,295
Fred Griffin - I am with Thomas J. Nelson, Realtor, ePRO, CRS, RCS-D on this!
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Thomas J. Nelson, REAL...
La Jolla, CA
8,232,667
There are creative scams for every fool.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
548,047
Ok, once I had a lady buyer that was going to fly in on her private jet and spend $20,000,000. Yes, I was excited, She kept delaying her trip, at that point, I ask for proof funds and then never heard from her again. Turns out she tie up a ranch in Oregon with no cash, she was just crazy. So I lost no money but gained an interesting story to tell.
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
5,585,039
another reason to focus on listings.....
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
1,545,944
Thankfully not.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
5,281,534
Wow interesting what some people do.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Mott Marvin Kornicki
Sunny Isles, FL
2,259,103
Oh Boy !
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
796,339
I've been conned twice in the past 22 years. It is painful and a time waster.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
3,969,372
Another scammer...just bigger. Thanks for sharing..
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
5,200,335
That's quite a story, and no doubt not the only one out there.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Nina Hollander, Broker
Charlotte, NC
564,544
Wowsers - what a story!
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
1,476,681
Even the rich and successful folk are not safe from succumbing to their own desire to become more rich and successful.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
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Debe Maxwell, CRS
Charlotte, NC
1,045,965
Scams are everywhere it still amazes me how many Nigerian princes there are that need, all our help to get some of their money out of the country LOL
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
6,051,962
I have to research many of my web hits, and have never had this happen, even on a smaller scale.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
3,986,529
4,434,277
929,395
Check out who you're dealing with and if it sounds too good to be true...
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
117,135
WOw, I dont have any stories close to this. Just a cash buyer, never wanting to actually put in an offer or provide proof of funds... I did let them go as a client.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
5,174,971
For me, the most was a $10 lunch.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
4,273,331
I think I am being snookered right now with a referral...
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
1,269,043
firwst time is today...........
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
1,713,581
And I thought Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
1,574,716
Nope but when you want something so badly (like a deal) your vision is compromised. It happens with "small" transactions and investors as well.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
720,177
Good thing no.... but vetting buyers is something I do diligently.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
2,613,734
I am sure the developer and his company did not respond because that was an embarrasing situation. Ugh.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
425,556
2,871,457
I have come close to that world and it is tense....Its the greed that drives it
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL
1,874,898
Nope would never happen in my market. I'd pay for lunch maybe but that's too many drinks on the tab I'm afraid.
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Fred Griffin Florida R...
Tallahassee, FL