SUSPICIOUS POTENTIAL CLIENT - Braselton - Posted on 12/10/07
An agent in Braselton received a call from a female who identified herself as Angela Davidson, stating that she and her husband were from out of town (Kansas City) and looking at homes in Hamilton Mill area. The caller stated that they had narrowed it down to a few and pressed for a meeting the same day.

The REALTOR® arranged a meeting with the couple at a local gas station. The caller was insistent that the REALTOR® meet her at 5:00 p.m. When she did not see another car at the gas station, the REALTOR® called the couple, who described their car as a Black Mercedes with no license tag, and let them know that she was there, along with a male colleague. The couple never showed up, and when the REALTOR® tried to call back several times, there was no answer and a voicemail was not set up. 

REALTOR® ATTACKED - Atlanta (Tucker) - Posted on 11/30/07
On Tuesday, November 27, a REALTOR® was attacked an empty home in DeKalb County off LaVista Road. The perpetrator attempted to sexually assault the woman, who fought him until he ran away. The house had a lockbox on it, and the victim is unsure if the man was already in the house when she arrived or if he followed her in. The attacker is described as a Hispanic male wearing a blue jacket. The police are currently investigating the crime.


CON MAN  POSING AS CLIENT - Atlanta - Posted on 11/08/07
Authorities in Cherokee, Cobb and north Fulton counties are warning people about a con man posing as a wealthy home buyer in order to steal valuables from the homes. Sandy Springs Police said the suspect David Newton, 48, took a $5,000 necklace from one home he scoping out. Police believe the suspect may have been scamming real estate agents in the metro Atlanta area and stealing from homes since July. He claims he’s moving to metro Atlanta from New Jersey and has his own plane. The man was last seen driving a maroon 2004 Honda Accord with New Jersey license plates.
    UPDATE FROM WEST METRO BOARD - Posted on 11/09/07
A man from New Jersey is posing as a high priced buyer. He has worked with an agent from the West Metro Board for the past two weeks and now the situation is being investigated by the police.  The man's name is David Newton but goes by the false name David Flynn. He has been targeting Cherokee and Sandy Springs markets, and now seems to have hit Douglas & Carroll. He drives a maroon Honda with a New Jersey tag.


STRANGE PHONE CALL REPORTED - Albany - Posted on 11/08/07
The Albany Board reported a strange phone call that one of their brokers received recently. A man called the broker’s office and referred to an employee by name and said he was going to be sending a wire transfer to their business account that day and that he needed to get the necessary banking information. By coincidence, one of the brokers in the office was scheduled to have a closing on the same day that involved a wire transfer so the call did not seem suspicious at the time.

The broker who was going to have the wire transfer answered the phone and asked for the caller’s name. He answered Mike Higgins.  The broker then asked what the call was regarding and his reply was that it is personal. The broker asked if it was about a real estate transaction and he said yes, that it was for a down payment but said he couldn’t give the address.  The broker then told the caller that she couldn’t give him that information and he hung up quickly.

The number in question is 201-373-8336 under the name Mike Higgins.  The broker called the number back and a machine picked up indicating the call had been made from a telemarketing firm.

OBSCENE CALLER - Brunswick - Posted on 7/31/2007
A call was received on July 27 by an agent on her cell phone from a man stating he was with Professional Video Services of Brunswick. He began by saying they were shooting a video on REALTORS® and would she be interested in participating. The conversation went from agents interacting with clients at the office, to REALTOR® Safety. Then the agent would be taken to a rural area and tied up with silk binding; the conversation subsequently became more personal and inappropriate. The caller ID was blocked. The agent reported the phone call to the Sheriff's Office.

OBSCENE CALLER – Gwinnett County – Posted on 6/20/07
UPDATE (6/22/07) Several GAR members from around the state have received similar calls, from Athens to Savannah to Monroe. Please report repeated harassing calls to your local police department.
A female agent in Gwinnett County has reported receiving repeated obscene phone calls from a male caller. On the first call the man pretended to be a prospective buyer, and stated that his name was Duane Thomas. He said that he and his wife are relocating from Raleigh, NC, and that they were staying in an extended stay hotel in Lawrenceville. He had picked up one of my the agent’s flyers in the outside flyer box at a vacant listing in Lilburn. He called three times in thirty minutes from three different numbers. According to the agent, his stories didn't sound believable, so she kept asking questions. She made an appointment with him and his wife for Tuesday morning, but said that she would want to meet them at her office and take separate vehicles. Suddenly, the call became an obscene call. The agent called the police and turned over the telephone numbers and times of the calls to the police. All numbers were local (Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Snellville).

The next morning, she received an obscene call from a different number (Norcross), as well as many others in the days to follow.

Please let GAR know if you or anyone you know is receiving obscene calls, and contact your local police as well.

HARASSING CALLER TARGETING REALTORS® - Posted February 28, 2007
A man who identifies himself as “Hightower“ has contacted several REALTORS® across the U.S. - including on in Bainbridge, Ga. - wanting to meet to look at property in the $750K range. His cell number is blocked and the caller has a tendency to ask questions about the REALTORS® home life, their preference for coffee, and the gives them an email that is not his in order to correspond. The person who does own the email address has received over 260 messages from REALTORS® who've been contact by thes individual. While investigators aren't sure of the caller's motives, they would like to hear of any more calls like this. If you receive such a call, please contact your local sherrif's or polic department, and have them contact Brian Donaldson of the Bainbridge Dept. of Public Safety at 229/248-2038.

MAN POSING AS CLIENT IN BRUNSWICK - Posted October 19, 2006
There has been a report of a man approaching a listed home of a single female in the Brunswick area at about noon on 10/17/06. He asked the homeowner to show her home to him at 8:00pm. She called her REALTOR®, who advised her not to show the home herself and that he would be there. When the REALTOR® showed up at the door the man drove past slowly. The REALTOR® advised the woman to remain in the house while he drove around the neighborhood. The man was located hiding behind a Dumpster in his pick up truck. When approached, the man quickly fled the neighborhood. The man was a short-built Hispanic in his late 30’s to early 40’s. He was driving a red Ford F150 with license number 6810AKX with a Dekalb Co sticker on the tag.

THIEF POSING AS CLIENT - Posted September 9, 2006
An Atlanta REALTOR® recently experienced theft from a potential client. The name that the thief supplied was Antuan R. Howell, but he sometimes he goes by "Dre". The REALTOR® met him in Guilford Forest, and took him on as a potential client. His story is he has a trust fund in the amount of $3 Million. After verifying that all information he gave was false, the REALTOR® discovered that he stole her credit card number and made unauthorized purchased totaling over $500. She met him and mid-July and worked with him until the beginning of August. The perpetrator is a black male, 5'4" approximately 25-30 years old with a slim build.

SCAM WARNING - Posted August 25, 2006
In March 2006, a Calhoun REALTOR® was contacted by T & M Marketing about buying an ad for prescription bags to be distributed at their local pharmacy. A man came by the agent’s office and her other bags he had printed and sold us her double size ad to be printed on 58,000 bags for $400.00. A check was written, she received a receipt and was told the bags would be distributed in approx. two months.

OBSCENE CALLER - Posted August 4, 2006
Several weeks later, the agent received a call from a woman wanting to sell an ad for the same bags. The agent informed the seller that she had already paid for an ad with another company for those bags. The seller then told the agent that she thought the agent had been a victim of scam, because her company had a contract with that pharmacy for the past four years.

The agent then went back to the receipt and called the company number, which was suppose to be Huntsville, Al., but reached a lady in Pennsylvania. The lady from PA said the agent had not been the only person to contact her looking for this company.

The agent was contacted by an agent in Griffin in the past week who informed her that she too had been scammed by the same man. She’d gotten the first agent’s name from the lady in Pennsylvania. The second agent just bought her ad on July 13, this scam artist is still ripping people off.

If this man contacts you to set up a meeting let him come by, but call the police. You may also contact Heather Clark at 770-228-1034 or Connie Pass at 706-625-1700 if you have any information about this scam.

A REALTOR® from the Dalton area experienced a real threat this week when a man called, ostensibly to discuss a house advertised in the Homes Guide, but quickly moved to strong sexual language and expletives. She promptly hung up. The police have been advised and are monitoring the situation.

BEWARE OF 868 TELEPHONE SCAM - Posted July 20, 2006
A REALTOR® in West Georgia was recently contacted by a “potential buyer,“ who asked her to call him back. The area code of his call was 868 and that area code, along with others throughout the Carribean (such as 809), is connected with a phone scam that charges the caller up to $24,000 for one phone call. These pay-per-call area codes are similar to 900 numbers in the U.S.

MAN IMPERSONATING REALTOR® TO GAIN HOME ENTRY - Posted on May 22, 2006
A man by the name of Jason Fountain was recently arrested and charged with felony forgery after attempting to break into a home (where he was stopped by the homeowner) in Cherokee County by using a lockbox key, which he obtained using a fake real estate license and business card. Apparently, this offender has tried to gain entry into other homes in the area as well by posing as a REALTOR®. The Cherokee Police are handling the ongoing investigation. GAR urges its members to watch out for impersonators that are a danger to both the public and the profession of real estate.

THEFT - Posted on May 22, 2006
A Rome REALTOR® showed property on last week to a couple who said they were from Florida. They dropped into her office without an appointment and told her they had sold their home in Daytona, were temporarily living with the wife's parents in Chattanooga and were anxious to buy a home in Rome.

THREATENING CALLER - Posted on May 10, 2006
A man called the NE Georgia Board office (located in Hiawassee), said that his name was David, and that he had met the person he was calling about 2 weeks ago at a real estate office. Then he said “This may come as a real shock to you, but I decided to follow you home to your residence. I set up surveillance cameras and I have 18 photos of you at different stages of undress”.

AGENT ABDUCTED - Posted April 10, 2006
On Thursday, April 6, a man abducted and robbed a Keller Williams agent and held her for three hours. The man took her jewelry, cash and car and made her purchase a $7,500 watch. The culprit pulled a gun on the agent at her office, where other people were present, and threatened to kill everyone in the office if she did not go with him. The man identified himself as Mike Smith, a former player with the Seattle Mariners. Over the weekend, a man called a Keller Williams office and spoke to an agent, wanting to see houses in the $600K range. He used the same name and information as was given in the attack on April 6 - Mike Smith, a former player for the Seattle Mariners. He asked that an agent meet him at an empty house. When the office refused to send out an agent after he refused to first come in to the office to be pre-qualified, he hung up.

This afternoon (Monday, April 10), he showed up at the Keller Williams Buckhead office. When "Mike" was assigned a male agent with which to view homes in the $750K range, he was no longer interested. "Mike Smith" is described as a black male, 6'1, driving a white Chevy Malibu with a Florida license plate, 5776 PY, and today he had a woman in the car with him.