Beware of Buyer(s)
January 19, 2008 – 11:36 pm | by thefrontstepsAgents at all San Francisco brokerages take note. There are a couple “buyers” out there that aren’t to be trusted:
Please beware of a gentleman who may be posing as a buyer. He goes by Jay Shapiro, is from Chicago, has 2 sons, is starting an international recruiting business in Monterey and is in a wheelchair. He wrote an offer with one of our agents (after a couple weeks of interacting and viewing numerous properties together) but did not follow through on the deposit. He offered a variety of excuses…. lost bags, theft at UCSF, etc. After the buyer began contacting our office throughout the day with complaints unrelated to the purchase transaction, the agent confronted him regarding his seriousness/ability to move forward – he hung up and has not called again.
Oddly enough, that wasn’t the only email we received:
Beware of a buyer with an interest in extremely high-end property, who brags about his assets, claims to have worked for Harpo productions, to be a close buddy of Oprah Winfrey…… He has a story for all occasions, needless to say Harpo had never heard of him. He phoned from a cell phone with a Louisiana number. He fired me when prior to showing him property, I explained that I’d need verification of funds for his $3,980,000 cash transaction.
These are legitimate scams, so if you are an agent in San Francisco, please feel free to forward this link (http://thefrontsteps.com/2008/01/19/beware-of-buyers/) to your entire office.
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Tags: Announcements, san francisco, theFrontSteps
11 Responses to “Beware of Buyer(s)”
By james on Jan 19, 2008 | Reply
report them to the local fbi office
By condocontessa on Jan 20, 2008 | Reply
Thanks, guys! This is a real service to our community.
By BAS on Jan 20, 2008 | Reply
Welcome to the real estate world in a weird economy. For those of us that have been in
the business for over 25yrs. we have all gone through similar experiences. I can
remember getting into contract with one of these all cash guys, and waiting for his funds
to wire in from his Swiss bank.
By eddy on Jan 20, 2008 | Reply
What is the scam other than misrepresenting himself; and obviously a disruption to the selling agent / property.
By missionite on Jan 20, 2008 | Reply
Yes, I am a little confused too? What makes it a scam?
By Alex on Jan 20, 2008 | Reply
Eddy and Missionite,
You ever see that movie (blanking on the title) where they have the people out on the beach and they’re “combing” it with a giant comb? Was it Austin Powers?
You guys kill me! Maybe “scam” wasn’t the best choice of words. Regardless, agents need to watch out for these types of things all the time for various different reasons…
Next time, just feel free to tell me and all the agents in the city and reading this blog to harden the f*** up.
By Paul Hwang on Jan 21, 2008 | Reply
There was this guy last year that would schedule appointments to see my listings at the Metropolitan through a different lady realtor every month or so on Friday afternoons. His name was Michael Lecht. Everytime he would show up with different realtor to see the same units and the realtor was always a lady. I always screened my Friday appointments at the Metropolitan to make sure he was not one of them and to warn people something funny was happening.
By John on Jan 21, 2008 | Reply
Oh, maybe that’s the new way to get the ladies.
By kathleen on Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
Lookie LOU, shame on you.
They have name, we have their number.
1 800 bite me.
Only a fool or a novice falls prey to Lookie Lou.
They smell different.
PU schooled
… anon
By concerned on Jun 21, 2008 | Reply
Jay Shapiro has a criminal record a mile long for many types of fraud.
He has been arrested in southern california (Riverside / San Bernardino
area) and in monterey.
By nathn chrhll on Jun 21, 2008 | Reply
These time wasters periodically resurface.Funny how you see them around
the overpriced,white elephant Sth of Market stuff-never around the vacant
20th and Sanchez flats w/ 4 car parking.note that these flakes are always
interested in a hi-end comped lunch.