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Rocklin man narrowly escaped falling prey to real estate fraud, and now he's sharing his cautionary tale with others as a warning. Michael Joseph, a Roseville real estate broker, said the incident began in early August when Mohammad called him about selling a vacant piece of land on Sylvan Road in Citrus Heights for $200,000. The sale moved quickly, but Joseph's escrow officer raised concerns about Mohammad's behavior, including his insistence on using an unvetted notary and failure to contact the escrow company.

    Joseph decided to meet Mohammad face-to-face at his Rocklin home, where he discovered that Mohammad was not actually selling the land. "I said, 'Mohammed, I think we have a case of fraud,'" Joseph recalled. The FBI investigates this type of real estate fraud, which often involves criminal rings taking advantage of remote transactions.

    According to FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jamil Hassani, scammers exploited virtual signing during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in tens of millions of dollars lost nationwide. Mohammad and his wife were victims themselves, losing their sense of security after being targeted by scammers. Joseph tried reporting the incident but was told that since no money had changed hands and title wasn't transferred, it wouldn't be pursued.

    Despite the setback, Joseph and Mohammad managed to turn the situation around, selling the land for $225,000 with a buyer Mohammad already had lined up. To prevent similar incidents, property owners can set up alerts on Google or Zillow for mentions of their address online, and some counties offer notification programs for recorded activity related to properties.