[Editor’s Note: It’s time to repost this as we’re getting some reports of a guy name Michael Lecht resurfacing…don’t work with him. Simple as that. See comments below from local real estate agents for more info.]

Agents 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.