A HOMEOPER said he unexpectedly saw his home for sale online for a fraction of the million dollar price.
Jamey Bertram said he only realized what had happened when he received a knock on the door of his home from a potential buyer.
Jamey and his partner Lauren said their property became part of an elaborate online scam.
The couple said they purchased their Kansas City, Missouri, property for nearly $1 million in 2019.
Their 5,300-square-foot farmhouse was recently listed for market rate of $1.2 million on Zillow.
The couple said the price of the property later dropped to $10,200.
The Bertrams said they were shocked when a prospective buyer visited their home, as the couple had not placed an ad online and did not intend to sell their home.
“It’s actually a scam,” Jamey said.
This sale was reportedly classified as “For Sale by Owner” on Zillow, according to The Kansas City Star.
The listing allegedly shared a false story about why the home was for sale for such a low price.
“Selling my home because my family and I own many homes in the United States,” the ad said.
“Once a year, we sell one or a few of our homes to first-time buyers for less than $25,000.
“This is done to bless a family or individual in need, but also as a tax break for us.”
The post also said that interested buyers should call “Mandi” at the phone number provided in the listing, which began with the Las Vegas area code.
One tap on the number asked people to send $200 through a cooking app, which was supposed to be refunded later.
The couple claimed they have been fighting to remove the fraudulent listing since discovering it on June 5.
In fact, it’s a scam.”
Jamey Bertram
“We have people showing up at our house, knocking. They want to come in and see our house,” said Jamey
“Our house was hacked on Zillow,” he added.
“And I’ve spent the last three days trying to relax this person who has taken over my online home.”
Jamey stated that Zillow responded to his initial complaint and asked him to send proof of ownership, so he sent a recent county property tax receipt.
“I didn’t get any help from Zillow. They stopped responding. …It’s a mess,” he said.
Zillow told The Kansas City Star it would investigate the incident.
“Thank you for contacting us. We will look into this immediately,” Zillow said in a statement.
The real estate website has since removed the listing.
The US Sun has reached out to Zillow for comment.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
