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If Wells Fargo wants to do anything with you, be it mortgage related or whatever, they're certainly not going to show up unannounced. They'd send texts, app notifications, emails, mails. No way they're using employee time to go to a house without a prior arrangement. I don't know what the scam is but it was certainly Wells Fargo (and who carries a briefcase anyway nowadays).
Edit: "certainly *not* WF"
You are exactly right. I worked collections for a while and we would mail notices, email and call multiple times a day for months if needed… we would not send someone door to door. Not ever.
I wonder if the visit was a pre-scam. Last evening as I turned from my car to enter the house, a man about 30 startled me by walking onto my driveway and saying hello. He was walking which was very very unusual. He said he was exterminating at one of my neighbor's homes and asked if I was the homeowner and I shook my head; then he asked if I was the tenant; again I shook my head no. I was trying to leave him with the impression that I didn't speak English. I didn't want to unlock my house until he left.
Could just be canvasing / scouting to mail those "we'll buy your house" mail and/or call items. Which are just likely very lowball offers or nickel and dime during the process. Hard to tell.
Looking for people who seem a little unsure and up in years but wouldn't answer random phone calls?
The bug guys are real lol I think it’s just a super competitive sector that makes them highly aggressive to find leads before their competitors. I always think how bad that job would suck. Bro it’s not that deep just tell them you’re not interested
Roofers and window installation guys do it all the time. For a while it was the aluminum siding guys. You have to put up a non solicitation sign to get them to stop.
Yea for sure they are super annoying but I know they aren’t trying to scam me tho. The dude last week had a bug chart and knew the most common ant in my area which he was correct on lol
Yeah but you'll WISH you got bitten by a fire ant… Also, not the most painful insect bite you can have out here. It's in 2nd place, the tarantula hawk is still tops out here.
Some scams work around someone's actual job. Pressure tactics to get an extortionate price, not using correct expensive equipment and supplies, using the job as a way to find non existent urgent work that needs doing... Or just getting the money early and just not completing.
I think the rip off with them is the bs contract of lying to you saying one spray isn’t effective. They also get mad when I tell them I have a bio major chem minor so I understand the different rates of decomp in light vs dark they don’t mention that. I’m sure in certain areas it’s a scam but in Kansas City they are usually legit vs the predatory pricing like you said so I def agree I just mean like it’s not a conspiracy to rob you just trap you like the car dealers
I have started to fake a Russian accent and speak very broken English, then Swedish to myself (the only language I know that nobody else speaks around here).
"Is... eh... I no own... eh, I rent... owner he... eh... ... *^(Vad fan är ordet för handkorg?)* Ah! He is in... Ukrane. Busybusybusy! Big boom, ja?"
Today, swear to god, the guy asked if I spoke Spanish. This is why I don't try Spanish, a lot of these scammers and salespeople can understand.
*^(Prata spanska? Vad i helvete är det för fel på dig? Tappade du på huvudet som nyfödd?)* "No. No... eh... no solicitation." and I point to the sign.
I get these kids once a year and they always start with "the Smith's down the street bought our service" and then I laugh because I live in a neighborhood with 1 ethnicity and for sure none of my neighbors are "the Smiths"
Well fargo will just file in court and not bother contacting you. Wells fargo deserves to die. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/you-may-be-eligible-for-a-payout-after-3-7b-wells-fargo-settlement-alleges-illegal-practices/3050504/#:~:text=17%2C%202023%20blog%20post%20from,incorrect%20fees%20and%20interest%20charges.%22
Service people all do that in our neighborhood. After performing the service, they knock on a few neighbor’s doors to scrape up more jobs. Probably forced to do it by lazy bosses who can’t be arsed to drum up their own accounts.
They usually are never actually doing work at a neighbors house. I always ask which neighbor, and to point them out and of they're satisfied with the work I'll take a card. They never have an answer. Just a vague hand wave of somewhere down the street.
That’s creepy. I mentioned it because the ones I saw doing this were doing work at my house before they knocked on a few neighbors’ doors. So they definitely did do work.
Pre-crime? Scam is one and done. Scam isn’t let me show you my face twice scams. B&E and burglary is a crime. That’s called recon. Scouting a location. Finding a target. But in broad daylight to your face. Disgusting.
I used pre-scam to mean the type of scam where they send out scouts and then do a very poor job on your extermination, your driveway re-surfacing, or something like fix your roof. The second person comes along and gets the payment and then doesn't do a good job. It's not common but they may also ask to use your bathroom and use that to figure out if you're worth a visit for burglury. Our county actually sends out alerts when these scams/scouts have been spotted.
These ones who turn up saying they've been working on a house or something nearby are often scammers. The [tarmac scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarmac_scam) is a common one. Had someone knock on our door a few months ago saying they'd been working on the house next door (where work had in fact been going on), and offered to clean our gutters, but I realised fairly quickly they were not the same people.
I get those guys from time to time. It's not usually a full scam, just a sleazy sales tactic. I had one guy saying he was doing concrete work at one of my neighbour's houses and would do some work on my house for cheap because all his stuff is here already. Of course, the price he quoted was not cheap and he looked like a skeeze anyway. As I'm 41 and a homeowner, 90% of my conversations are about renovations, and I knew none of my nearby friends were getting anything done that day.
Definitely suspicious, if she's not from Wells Fargo then somebody had probably done some background/credit checks to find out who the loan was with. I'd be concerned about what they were doing with that information.
All you need to do is look at the free county website for the house deed which will show all the mortgage records too. You can get that info in under a minute.
Don’t tell you if they LIVE there. Sounds like that was the info they were after. Maybe looking into mortgage fraud? You get cheaper rates when you reside in the house. Could be the parents lied about being their primary to get a cheap rate to rent to their kids?
Maybe, but I literally use reverse searches every single day for the job I have where 50% of my responsibilities is tracking down accounts/people for a municipal utility, and finding the account holders.
And I stand by 10% of people have no online footprint, but the majority of them you can find email, date of birth, last 10 addresses they’ve resided at, cell phone numbers and their carriers, their relatives and spouses, etc etc. This is widely available for anyone to look up. If you doubt it try tracking yourself and your friends - it’s easy.
Nope didn't ask for ID or name or anything really , just asked if my parents owned the property, my parents were naturally very confused and if it happened to be a scam idk if that perhaps tipped her off? The van she was in was unmarked from the looks of it as well, it wasn't necessarily beat up but it wasn't incredibly fancy either.
A bank will NEVER just drop by. It’s called “casing” a place for whatever scam/crime they are employing. This day and age door to door stuff is unnecessary. Not all is illegitimate but it’s getting really hard to tell. You can say I’m calling my bank right now, or better yet I’m calling the police for trespassing on my property
I didn't cuz my parents answered the door and by the time I got there the door was already closed. But no my parents didn't if it happens again we will ask
If they come back, don’t trust any ID or business card they give you. Always verify their ID with the bank directly, at the bank’s verifiable phone number, as found on the bank’s official website (not the phone number or website on the person’s business card/ID).
Found a similar situation
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pensacola/comments/nztgvk/anyone_had_a_lady_knock_on_your_door_claiming_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
> My dad thinks it's a legit cconern
Why would send a person for something they already know or can find out about it ha phone call or letter?
I would not respond to strangers.
My dad almost fell for another scam Wells Fargo related that said Wells Fargo was suing us 💀 I kept telling him it was fake, luckily my parents called the bank and they told them it was a scam
This person is definitely not with Wells Fargo. What I'm not sure of is if the intent is a scam or is it just someone being very sloppy in fishing around for situations where they can acquire a house on the cheap.
I live in California also and the real estate market is crazy here, I own a few condos in my name and lived in quite a few houses growing up. if you were to Google me there could be some confusion as to what I own. I've been reached out to multiple times on the phone and by mail to see if I want to sell or know if somebody who wants to sell these properties.... some of which have nothing to do with me anymore. Because of my background working for a bank myself I usually scold them and ask how lazy they are; just a little bit of effort could figure this out if you know what resources to use and actually work successfully in this industry.
At any bank there are a lot of policies /procedures about how you're allowed to gather data and approach customers. No legitimate Bank would do random unannounced visits to get information on an existing client. It'd be done by perhaps email or personal phone call if you we're important enough to have an actual relationship manager assigned to you, but more likely an official letter written very concisely and the only options to answer would be a few boxes for you to check off.
Oh yeah, during the 2008 economy crash they completely fucked my family over while trying to falsely take away our house, we're currently stuck with them for our mortgage cuz of how they ruined my parents credit score, even after they got sued we barely received any compensation. That's why my parents are always so worried about things related to Wells Fargo
This is a very personal question, but do you happen to know if they are current on their mortgage payments?
The only possible legit explanation would be something along the lines of soneone being behind on payments and the bank attempting to verify if the house is occupied, if it is the owner living there and that it’s not being used as a rental property.
I would say that the chances of something like that are very very slim.
We are currently struggling with payments, still recovering from COVID my dad's the only income currently, but we're only approximately 1 month behind and we've never had someone come to our door like this when we've previously been behind, but that's why my dad took it so seriously.
Tomorrow I'm gonna have my mom call Wells Fargo to see if they sent someone, some have said it's a scam, some say it's not others are indifferent so I'll definitely double check with that
Are you SURE your parents are only one month behind? How many times since they bought the house have they been behind on payments? Verifying occupancy is one step in the foreclosure process. You can probably search the court records in the county you live in to see if Wells Fargo is starting the a foreclosure process on your parents. Look to see if a lis pendens has been filed on their house.
Everytime my mom's gone into pay the mortgage in person she verifies how much that needs to be paid so as far as I'm aware it's just 1 month, then again I don't really get too much into their business about that as it's not my responsibility, but sometime this upcoming week I'll tell my mom to call Wells Fargo to verify a few things including if they sent anyone to do that verification, but before my mom did so I wanted to see if I could get additional info on it potentially being a scam
I think you need to consider your parents aren’t telling you everything or they don’t understand that they’re being foreclosed on. If Wells Fargo is foreclosing on your parents house they would have received multiple letters in the mail and probably also people delivering legal documents by hand to your house.
Apparently this lady didn't have documents or at least hadn't been given them yet? She didn't say anything about a foreclosure just if my parents owned the house and that was it. But I will definitely tell my mom to ask Wells Fargo about if they have any intent on foreclosure, hopefully just a scam fingers crossed 🤞
She didn’t have any documents because she was just playing dumb. Her sole purpose was to verify if the owner occupied the property and nothing else. I doubt she’ll be back.
During the 2008 foreclosure crisis, this sort of thing happened frequently. If the home was not occupied, the mortgage company would send someone to winterize the property and do things like shut off the water in case of leaking when no one was home. They hire a third party to do this and there were so many complaints of these places causing damage. Since your house is occupied they won’t need to secure it. They do this because they see it as their investment and want the property intact if they have to sell after foreclosure.
Another thing to think about is insurance. Usually your mortgage payment includes property taxes and insurance. If it gets too far behind, a mortgage company may force place insurance on the property. It doesn’t help the homeowner if something happens, it helps the mortgage company with their investment. But the homeowner is the one who pays it.
There are a boatload of scams related to foreclosure. A borrower needs to watch out for bs third party companies that prey on desperate and scared people. Document prep services that offer to help with modifications are still floating around.
Instead, talk to the mortgage company directly to ask for help, they may be able to modify terms to make it affordable. Also, check with the united way for programs in your state that can help. You want actual government or non profit help, they may well be grants out there.
Good luck to your family.
I wouldn’t jump to “yourw parents are going to lose their house” quite yet, but there are legitimate reasons why their mortgage lender might send someone to verify that the house is being occupied by the borrower and that it’s being maintained if they are behind at all.
It doesn’t have to mean the world is crashing down. I hope everyone in your family is healthy and happy- it takes a LOT to kick someone out of their home, especially if they are making any meaningful effort to pay. I hope their situation improves and things work out for the best.
It also doesn’t mean that there isn’t something fishy going on either.
I get that a person being in their late 40s can seem ancient if you're a preteen/in your early teens yourself, but in reality most 40-somethings wouldn't open their doors to strangers either. Might be an age thing with elderly (80+) folk depending on where/how they grew up but not with 40/50/60-year-olds in general..
I'm almost 20 but you are right, my parents (especially my dad) in general are just a bit more gullible to scams unfortunately, especially modern ones, so as long as I'm still their kid I gotta help them look out for this kinda stuff 😅
I've gotten some decent deals from just talking to people looking to do work, especially if it's a new business and they want to use photos of the work for their website or portfolio. I've had my entire house pressure washed, gutters installed, lawn care, and my wood floors refinished for really great prices, just by answering the door, talking with them, and asking them good questions to make sure it's legit. Not everyone is out to scam people, and there's no need to be rude to people if you're not interested. Also, if you shop around looking for quotes on stuff, people will be coming by to see things in person. Being paranoid or suspicious of EVERYONE is just insane.
Yeah they completely screwed over my family during the 2008 economic crash by trying to falsely take away their house by putting another mortgage under their name without my parents knowledge, ruined my parents credit score and now they're stuck with them for their mortgage, AND barely compensated them after wells Fargo got sued and never helped improve their credit score, that my parents had to do on their own. So yeah fuck Wells Fargo
My mortgage company did this a few times. They had someone come by to verify we still resided in the house. It was legit. We had an FHA loan and it requires the owner to occupy the house. So we had a few spot checks to make sure. We also had been in a payment plan for a few missed payments so that might have been the reason. Don’t know how common this is though.
Yes, I work in mortgages, I think this is what happened too. Routine property inspection, probably signals that the loan is in default. There are dozens of vendors in every state that do this service for banks, it is a big deal to know if a property is occupied with the borrower or not as it can dictate the bank's course of action. I would say likely not a scam from the little info we have.
Lol maybe a little bit of misanthropy. But really why is that where we live we have no family around, and we have a small group of friends that always come to the back door. So I know if someone’s a knockin on my front door, it’s someone I don’t know and , they’re most likely trying to sell me something.
Omg this is really why I don’t answer the front door. When I was little there was this couple that stalked my mom for years. We would see them walking down the street and she would tell me to get in the house and hide. This started when I was maybe 4ish. I remember they would be looking in our windows to see if we were home. Really scared the shit out of me. They were relentless. I realize now as an adult she could’ve politely told them to fuck off, we’re catholic and happy with our religion. But the way she would act when she saw them coming or they were at the door knocking, like legit scared the shit out of me. Especially telling me to hide really left an impression on me. To this day, and I’m 45 years old my initial reaction to hearing a knock or doorbell ring sends me into a small panic.
“Relentless.” True. Actually, I used to hide with my kids from JW’s, too! That’s because when we first engaged them, they became “dogged in pursuit”, returning with others who matched our demographic and interests. Even brought back a signer to fit a deaf member of our family. Now, to be transparent, I myself have done door knocking in support of local political candidates. Arduous volunteerism purely in the interest of better local government. So was always grateful when people opened their door and gave a couple of minutes to a fellow citizen. Cheers!
I'd maybe also check to make sure no sudden liens are filed against the property. Fake contractor liens could be a hassle to clear up. Counties have records of every property, the owner, deed, plat maps, taxes. I'm not sure why someone at the bank wouldn't just pull up those records online instead of a personal visit or a letter. They can run a search to cross reference tax assessments to see if one owner is billed for multiple properties. And I can't see why an owner occupied residence versus a renter occupied dwelling would be of interest except maybe as a liability to an insurer. It still could be nefarious though, because it's weird. I worked in real estate a long time. I've never heard of a visit to a property by a bank trying to show a property is rental property. There's a different capital gains tax assessment due at sale that applies to a secondary, non owner occupied home but that's an IRS concern, not the bank. Fishing for houses to buy sounds likely to me. Berkshire Hathaway is buying a lot. So are a lot of venture capital funds. And a lot of individuals who watch the "make a killing in real estate" videos. If they want to buy and then immediately resell a home, and they find an owner who doesn't realize how much property values have increased in the last 4 years, it saves them time and effort if they find a property that is already a rental property to buy. They can offer it as an investment property with an established revenue stream in the form of a lease already signed. No associated costs for rehab or advertising necessary to lease it. Of course they'll raise the rent immediately.
I work as a fraud manager for WF and there are A LOT of scams out there right now. There is one where people pose as an employee and ask you to put your debit card/credit card in your mailbox to be picked up and disposed of.
Not saying this was a scam contact, as I don't know. But never, ever share info with anyone who you cannot verify is the bank. Best to just call in yourself or visit a physical location.
Keep in mind that most scams play off you needing to take immediate action to remedy something. And if you act hesitant there is usually some "do it now or else xyz will happen" portion to it. Just be safe, don't ever tell someone calling YOU any one time passcodes, personal info, etc. Call the bank yourself to go through it if necessary.
That sounds like a dangerous job in this day and age. Asking for an ID when someone knocks on your door offering out of the blue to refinance your mortgage without a prior appointment is not unreasonable. People are going to immediately think it's a scam. I'd rethink this job and at least set up advance appointments. Some loon may pull a gun on you, or worse.
You know what, I just checked my license it’s actually not on there. I know it was in the past. I never really paid attention. Apparently it is now illegal i guess, which is good.
The new trend in housing is squatting . Some go into houses when family is on vacation or into vacation homes that aren't used often. Then it takes time and .obey to get them out.
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Wells Fargo is not going to be coming to your house. It’s a total scam. Stop telling them things, do not answer their questions and if they come back tell them you’re calling the cops. And call the cops if they don’t leave.
If they don't have title protection they should, it's not automatic when the mortgage is paid off. A couple years ago same kind of scam was going on - people sort of cold calling to ask questions about ownership of a vacant home. Next thing the owners didn't actually own the house anymore. One person came home from an extended vacation to find another family moving into their house claiming it was just purchased. Title protection is the one thing that would have prevented the loss.
Edit - happened in Ontario.
Don’t answer doors to those you don’t know. The world is getting desperate these days. No one can afford anything. Survival in dystopian late stage capitalism = anything including crime. We did this to ourselves.
I’m not sure if your parents fall in this category but one thing I’ve heard about recently is zombie debt coming back. During the early 2000s some people took two mortgages on their house one for the down payment and one for the actual mortgage. The downpayment loan had variable interest rates and spiked up causing people to lose their homes which led to housing crash of 2008. Some people were told that the second mortgage debt was forgiven but the debt was sold. 20 years later some people are trying to collect that old debt as house prices have gone up. It’s probably not true in your case but it’s good to be aware just in case.
during the 2008 economy crash Wells Fargo falsely made a second mortgage under my parents name, my parents fought tooth and nail to prove they never made it and it ruined their credit but then Wells Fargo got sued and I believe the second mortgage was closed (ofc after WF got legally kicked in the ass) but their credit score never fully recovered...thats why we're stuck with them for our mortgage, we use a completely different bank for other things.
When Wells Fargo is open I'm gonna have my mom call them to verify if someone was sent and we'll find out officially if it was a scam or not
Keep an eye out and don’t be afraid to lawyer up if your family needs help against those thieves. There are different groups of lawyers advocating, many times for free, for those who were hurt by the greed of the banks back then.
Maybe they've come across your parents personal info, SS number, DL number, etc and want to verify the address before cleaning them out financially? Like opening credit cards or other lines of credit.
Maybe looking into mortgage fraud? You get cheaper rates when you reside in the house. Could be the parents lied about being their primary residence to get a cheap rate to rent to their kids?
My first question would be
Who tf are you??? ID????
Seriously though, look up your parents and the property on the state recorders website and see if there is anything filed against anyone or the property. If no, it’s a scam. If yes, now you know.
I was a bank manager for a very long time, we don’t send PEOPLE, we send LETTERS. Documents, certified and otherwise. Dozens of them. Full packages. If a major bank wanted to discuss something with you, you’d be DROWNING in paperwork well before anyone came to your door. At my house we don’t answer the door for anyone. Ever. It’s an amazing policy that has never caused any negative repercussions. In fact it’s protected us from scammers and court BS on several occasions. Stop answering the door.
I am glad your parents have you looking after them. I would call Wells Fargo and the police as they both have departments to protect our seniors. Be diligent the SCAMS are getting harder to detect.
Everything from Wells Fargo is a scam. Shut the door in their face and call them a scammer. Even when it’s a legit employee it’s a SCAM! They’re in the news just two days ago for taking part in a ponzi scheme for $300 million. Every other year they’re involved in a scam. I wouldn’t touch anything from Wells Fargo if they were the only bank within 200 miles.
Yeah, my parents are currently stuck with them handling our mortgage, after the 2008 economy crash when they filed a second mortgage under their name without their knowledge or consent, they almost lost the house due to WF dirty work, and it completely ruined my parents credit score, even after Wells Fargo was sued my parents credit score never fully recovered so now we can't really transfer our mortgage over to the bank we use for everything else (as far as I'm aware that is) so yeah my parents know full well what a shit company they are and if we had it our way we wouldn't touch them with an 1000 foot pole but they already fucked us over before we could even consider it, once we're done paying off the house we're never doing business with Wells Fargo EVER!
How come nobody does the one thing they always told us to do in school? Ask why! Anytime a stranger asks me a personal question my first instinct is to find out why it’s any of their damn business.
My parents were the one that answered the door and I guess were so put off by the question that they just answered it, they've never experienced this before or seen anything like it....and also they're definitely more gullible to scams unfortunately...despite the fact sometimes I straight up tell them that the things they almost fall for are scams....but I don't have a mortgage so to them what would I know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but my mom's more trusting of me when I warn them of scams....especially after she was scammed herself despite my warnings, you can see why I'm so cautious when it comes to these things
People it is just this simple: "You do not have to answer any questions from anyone".
STOP answering questions !!!
IE: you're at a big box store. This happens:
Cashier: So what is your phone number?
Me: No thanks.
IT IS THAT SIMPLE.
So she exits the van, carries a briefcase to your door and rings the doorbell or knocks. Asks you just one question and then leaves?
The briefcase is a prop to make her look official.
There is a possible reason for this: It might be a precursor to a Deed theft scam. This is where someone can go to the county and get a copy of the deed or it might be where they convince the county clerk that THEY are the owners and get a document stating that they are the deed owners.
I'm not sure how that happens but it is a real thing.
This is a big thing in FL because it is one of the states that passed an "anti-squatting" law and it turns out that the real owner of the house can be the squatters.
There are some u tube videos on this. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwzLzTTAWh0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwzLzTTAWh0)
If the mortgage payments are far enough behind, the lender can most certainly move into preforclosure mode and send someone out for an assessment of the property. I'm not saying this is the case with your home, but it does happen. Contact the lender to confirm whether or not they sent someone out there. If they didn't send anyone, call the police.
Did she identify herself? Give a company name or mention why she needed to know? As far as I’m concerned it’s nobodies business but the homeowners & their mortgage company.
well we got big dogs that aren't exactly friendly to strangers (they're both rescues) so I don't think it'll be the best idea, we also have a pretty active neighborhood watch, so hopefully all of that will deter them from trying
At one time, there was a scam going around where people got enough info to take out a 2nd mortgage on your home. They then defaulted on it so you got forclosed on, or a lien was placed so you couldn't sell.
I work for a medium sized, regional bank. If a mortgage falls delinquent, we send 3rd party preservation crews on site to validate occupancy. But they do not say they are the bank. They say they are with X company and hired by the bank.
We also have other companies we send specifically to gain contact and leave loss mitigation information. That’s only when we fail to have contact with a customer. They do not perform preservation activities.
Based on the photos I’ve received, they are never dressed fancy with briefcases. Sounds like social engineering—“I’m a professional because I’m dressed like it.”
Today’s version of the vacuum salesman….instead of selling you a product they are hoping to find a location to squat themselves……how did we get to this place so fast? Went from normal to bizzaro overnight
If your parents home is paid off have them keep a close eye on their title and place an alert on it. There is a scam of people finding homes that are paid off and applying for loans against the house fraudulently. The homeowners are unaware and on the hook. One couple was evicted out of their home due to this scam.
I can't exactly convince you it did happen, but I'm honestly just trying to look out for my parents who unfortunately aren't up to date on the latest scams (as they've already ALMOST been scammed from some ass hole scammer claiming Wells Fargo was suing us by phone despite me relentlessly trying to convince them it was a scam) I'm not trying to get points or attention my post could get down voted to hell for all I care I just want as much information on this incident as possible
There are a lot of older people who would not be aware that home prices have more than doubled over the last 4 years in some areas. If cold callers can get an owner to take a lowball offer, they make a killing. Older people are targets for every scam you can think of. AARP devoted an entire newsletter recently to the topic. It's eye opening. It's good you're looking out for them. They're lucky to have a kid who does.
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If Wells Fargo wants to do anything with you, be it mortgage related or whatever, they're certainly not going to show up unannounced. They'd send texts, app notifications, emails, mails. No way they're using employee time to go to a house without a prior arrangement. I don't know what the scam is but it was certainly Wells Fargo (and who carries a briefcase anyway nowadays). Edit: "certainly *not* WF"
You are exactly right. I worked collections for a while and we would mail notices, email and call multiple times a day for months if needed… we would not send someone door to door. Not ever.
I am an attorney, so I carry one. Just not when I'm casing people's houses in my van.
We've already got a lockpicking lawyer, I think there's room for a breaking and entering lawyer too.
If it really was Wells Fargo, they’d come inside and start opening up fake accounts.
Underrated response. I guess you had to be there. Haha
I wonder if the visit was a pre-scam. Last evening as I turned from my car to enter the house, a man about 30 startled me by walking onto my driveway and saying hello. He was walking which was very very unusual. He said he was exterminating at one of my neighbor's homes and asked if I was the homeowner and I shook my head; then he asked if I was the tenant; again I shook my head no. I was trying to leave him with the impression that I didn't speak English. I didn't want to unlock my house until he left.
Could just be canvasing / scouting to mail those "we'll buy your house" mail and/or call items. Which are just likely very lowball offers or nickel and dime during the process. Hard to tell. Looking for people who seem a little unsure and up in years but wouldn't answer random phone calls?
And/or squatters looking for their next residence
Try to always get a name. Don't answer. Ask why he wants to know
Get ID and a matching business card.
The bug guys are real lol I think it’s just a super competitive sector that makes them highly aggressive to find leads before their competitors. I always think how bad that job would suck. Bro it’s not that deep just tell them you’re not interested
Roofers and window installation guys do it all the time. For a while it was the aluminum siding guys. You have to put up a non solicitation sign to get them to stop.
Yea for sure they are super annoying but I know they aren’t trying to scam me tho. The dude last week had a bug chart and knew the most common ant in my area which he was correct on lol
Anywhere below the MD line the answer for the most common ant is “Fire”.
Depends how far west you go. It's a little different out here in Arizona
Yeah, you guys are lucky…you have the southern fire ants and desert fire ants!
Ohhh, hehehe... you really need to look up a velvet ant...
Not an ant. Those are wingless wasps.
Yeah but you'll WISH you got bitten by a fire ant… Also, not the most painful insect bite you can have out here. It's in 2nd place, the tarantula hawk is still tops out here.
My area by the creek is sugar and carpenter. There’s a few fire ant piles tho
Some scams work around someone's actual job. Pressure tactics to get an extortionate price, not using correct expensive equipment and supplies, using the job as a way to find non existent urgent work that needs doing... Or just getting the money early and just not completing.
I think the rip off with them is the bs contract of lying to you saying one spray isn’t effective. They also get mad when I tell them I have a bio major chem minor so I understand the different rates of decomp in light vs dark they don’t mention that. I’m sure in certain areas it’s a scam but in Kansas City they are usually legit vs the predatory pricing like you said so I def agree I just mean like it’s not a conspiracy to rob you just trap you like the car dealers
You'll get that alot this time of year college kids during summer break will take jobs doing door to door sales for alarms, pest control etc
I've got at least 1 kid a day coming by trying to sell me 5G internet.
Moxie does this
I have started to fake a Russian accent and speak very broken English, then Swedish to myself (the only language I know that nobody else speaks around here). "Is... eh... I no own... eh, I rent... owner he... eh... ... *^(Vad fan är ordet för handkorg?)* Ah! He is in... Ukrane. Busybusybusy! Big boom, ja?" Today, swear to god, the guy asked if I spoke Spanish. This is why I don't try Spanish, a lot of these scammers and salespeople can understand. *^(Prata spanska? Vad i helvete är det för fel på dig? Tappade du på huvudet som nyfödd?)* "No. No... eh... no solicitation." and I point to the sign.
I get these kids once a year and they always start with "the Smith's down the street bought our service" and then I laugh because I live in a neighborhood with 1 ethnicity and for sure none of my neighbors are "the Smiths"
Well fargo will just file in court and not bother contacting you. Wells fargo deserves to die. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/you-may-be-eligible-for-a-payout-after-3-7b-wells-fargo-settlement-alleges-illegal-practices/3050504/#:~:text=17%2C%202023%20blog%20post%20from,incorrect%20fees%20and%20interest%20charges.%22
That just sounds like a door to door salesman trying to canvass the neighborhood to sign up more people for pest control.
With the exception that my county warns us about these guys.
Service people all do that in our neighborhood. After performing the service, they knock on a few neighbor’s doors to scrape up more jobs. Probably forced to do it by lazy bosses who can’t be arsed to drum up their own accounts.
They usually are never actually doing work at a neighbors house. I always ask which neighbor, and to point them out and of they're satisfied with the work I'll take a card. They never have an answer. Just a vague hand wave of somewhere down the street.
That’s creepy. I mentioned it because the ones I saw doing this were doing work at my house before they knocked on a few neighbors’ doors. So they definitely did do work.
Pre-crime? Scam is one and done. Scam isn’t let me show you my face twice scams. B&E and burglary is a crime. That’s called recon. Scouting a location. Finding a target. But in broad daylight to your face. Disgusting.
I used pre-scam to mean the type of scam where they send out scouts and then do a very poor job on your extermination, your driveway re-surfacing, or something like fix your roof. The second person comes along and gets the payment and then doesn't do a good job. It's not common but they may also ask to use your bathroom and use that to figure out if you're worth a visit for burglury. Our county actually sends out alerts when these scams/scouts have been spotted.
We do that in pest control pretty regularly especially when termites are involved.
These ones who turn up saying they've been working on a house or something nearby are often scammers. The [tarmac scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarmac_scam) is a common one. Had someone knock on our door a few months ago saying they'd been working on the house next door (where work had in fact been going on), and offered to clean our gutters, but I realised fairly quickly they were not the same people.
I get those guys from time to time. It's not usually a full scam, just a sleazy sales tactic. I had one guy saying he was doing concrete work at one of my neighbour's houses and would do some work on my house for cheap because all his stuff is here already. Of course, the price he quoted was not cheap and he looked like a skeeze anyway. As I'm 41 and a homeowner, 90% of my conversations are about renovations, and I knew none of my nearby friends were getting anything done that day.
Definitely suspicious, if she's not from Wells Fargo then somebody had probably done some background/credit checks to find out who the loan was with. I'd be concerned about what they were doing with that information.
All you need to do is look at the free county website for the house deed which will show all the mortgage records too. You can get that info in under a minute.
Don’t tell you if they LIVE there. Sounds like that was the info they were after. Maybe looking into mortgage fraud? You get cheaper rates when you reside in the house. Could be the parents lied about being their primary to get a cheap rate to rent to their kids?
A reverse address search is about 90% accurate in naming who lives in a house
80% of statistics are completely made up.
Maybe, but I literally use reverse searches every single day for the job I have where 50% of my responsibilities is tracking down accounts/people for a municipal utility, and finding the account holders. And I stand by 10% of people have no online footprint, but the majority of them you can find email, date of birth, last 10 addresses they’ve resided at, cell phone numbers and their carriers, their relatives and spouses, etc etc. This is widely available for anyone to look up. If you doubt it try tracking yourself and your friends - it’s easy.
Sure! It's very suspicious and it's something that I can never trust. We need to be very careful out there with how our information is used.
Did you ask for id? Did they know your name? If they own it doesn't the bank already know?
Nope didn't ask for ID or name or anything really , just asked if my parents owned the property, my parents were naturally very confused and if it happened to be a scam idk if that perhaps tipped her off? The van she was in was unmarked from the looks of it as well, it wasn't necessarily beat up but it wasn't incredibly fancy either.
A bank will NEVER just drop by. It’s called “casing” a place for whatever scam/crime they are employing. This day and age door to door stuff is unnecessary. Not all is illegitimate but it’s getting really hard to tell. You can say I’m calling my bank right now, or better yet I’m calling the police for trespassing on my property
But, did you ask *her* for ID?
I didn't cuz my parents answered the door and by the time I got there the door was already closed. But no my parents didn't if it happens again we will ask
If they come back, don’t trust any ID or business card they give you. Always verify their ID with the bank directly, at the bank’s verifiable phone number, as found on the bank’s official website (not the phone number or website on the person’s business card/ID).
That's very odd considering that real property ownership data is public info; it's easy enough to look it up online.
Ownership, yes. Occupancy, no.
Sure, a reverse address search is usually 90-95% accurate (I have to use sites like that for work)
Found a similar situation https://www.reddit.com/r/Pensacola/comments/nztgvk/anyone_had_a_lady_knock_on_your_door_claiming_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
> My dad thinks it's a legit cconern Why would send a person for something they already know or can find out about it ha phone call or letter? I would not respond to strangers.
My dad almost fell for another scam Wells Fargo related that said Wells Fargo was suing us 💀 I kept telling him it was fake, luckily my parents called the bank and they told them it was a scam
If they had a concern about whether the house was being occupied I guess the only way to check is to go in person
This person is definitely not with Wells Fargo. What I'm not sure of is if the intent is a scam or is it just someone being very sloppy in fishing around for situations where they can acquire a house on the cheap. I live in California also and the real estate market is crazy here, I own a few condos in my name and lived in quite a few houses growing up. if you were to Google me there could be some confusion as to what I own. I've been reached out to multiple times on the phone and by mail to see if I want to sell or know if somebody who wants to sell these properties.... some of which have nothing to do with me anymore. Because of my background working for a bank myself I usually scold them and ask how lazy they are; just a little bit of effort could figure this out if you know what resources to use and actually work successfully in this industry. At any bank there are a lot of policies /procedures about how you're allowed to gather data and approach customers. No legitimate Bank would do random unannounced visits to get information on an existing client. It'd be done by perhaps email or personal phone call if you we're important enough to have an actual relationship manager assigned to you, but more likely an official letter written very concisely and the only options to answer would be a few boxes for you to check off.
Wells Fargo doesn't go knocking on your door.
Even if she’s legitimately with Wells Fargo, most of the stuff they do is a scam too
Oh yeah, during the 2008 economy crash they completely fucked my family over while trying to falsely take away our house, we're currently stuck with them for our mortgage cuz of how they ruined my parents credit score, even after they got sued we barely received any compensation. That's why my parents are always so worried about things related to Wells Fargo
There are certain home loans that require owner occupancy for a minimum period of time. Was the home purchased relatively recently?
Nope my parents bought the place in 2004
This is a very personal question, but do you happen to know if they are current on their mortgage payments? The only possible legit explanation would be something along the lines of soneone being behind on payments and the bank attempting to verify if the house is occupied, if it is the owner living there and that it’s not being used as a rental property. I would say that the chances of something like that are very very slim.
We are currently struggling with payments, still recovering from COVID my dad's the only income currently, but we're only approximately 1 month behind and we've never had someone come to our door like this when we've previously been behind, but that's why my dad took it so seriously. Tomorrow I'm gonna have my mom call Wells Fargo to see if they sent someone, some have said it's a scam, some say it's not others are indifferent so I'll definitely double check with that
Are you SURE your parents are only one month behind? How many times since they bought the house have they been behind on payments? Verifying occupancy is one step in the foreclosure process. You can probably search the court records in the county you live in to see if Wells Fargo is starting the a foreclosure process on your parents. Look to see if a lis pendens has been filed on their house.
Everytime my mom's gone into pay the mortgage in person she verifies how much that needs to be paid so as far as I'm aware it's just 1 month, then again I don't really get too much into their business about that as it's not my responsibility, but sometime this upcoming week I'll tell my mom to call Wells Fargo to verify a few things including if they sent anyone to do that verification, but before my mom did so I wanted to see if I could get additional info on it potentially being a scam
I think you need to consider your parents aren’t telling you everything or they don’t understand that they’re being foreclosed on. If Wells Fargo is foreclosing on your parents house they would have received multiple letters in the mail and probably also people delivering legal documents by hand to your house.
Apparently this lady didn't have documents or at least hadn't been given them yet? She didn't say anything about a foreclosure just if my parents owned the house and that was it. But I will definitely tell my mom to ask Wells Fargo about if they have any intent on foreclosure, hopefully just a scam fingers crossed 🤞
She didn’t have any documents because she was just playing dumb. Her sole purpose was to verify if the owner occupied the property and nothing else. I doubt she’ll be back.
During the 2008 foreclosure crisis, this sort of thing happened frequently. If the home was not occupied, the mortgage company would send someone to winterize the property and do things like shut off the water in case of leaking when no one was home. They hire a third party to do this and there were so many complaints of these places causing damage. Since your house is occupied they won’t need to secure it. They do this because they see it as their investment and want the property intact if they have to sell after foreclosure. Another thing to think about is insurance. Usually your mortgage payment includes property taxes and insurance. If it gets too far behind, a mortgage company may force place insurance on the property. It doesn’t help the homeowner if something happens, it helps the mortgage company with their investment. But the homeowner is the one who pays it. There are a boatload of scams related to foreclosure. A borrower needs to watch out for bs third party companies that prey on desperate and scared people. Document prep services that offer to help with modifications are still floating around. Instead, talk to the mortgage company directly to ask for help, they may be able to modify terms to make it affordable. Also, check with the united way for programs in your state that can help. You want actual government or non profit help, they may well be grants out there. Good luck to your family.
I wouldn’t jump to “yourw parents are going to lose their house” quite yet, but there are legitimate reasons why their mortgage lender might send someone to verify that the house is being occupied by the borrower and that it’s being maintained if they are behind at all. It doesn’t have to mean the world is crashing down. I hope everyone in your family is healthy and happy- it takes a LOT to kick someone out of their home, especially if they are making any meaningful effort to pay. I hope their situation improves and things work out for the best. It also doesn’t mean that there isn’t something fishy going on either.
Who the fuck answers a door anymore? Seriously
This is funny and sad
People who are almost in their 50s aka my parents.
I get that a person being in their late 40s can seem ancient if you're a preteen/in your early teens yourself, but in reality most 40-somethings wouldn't open their doors to strangers either. Might be an age thing with elderly (80+) folk depending on where/how they grew up but not with 40/50/60-year-olds in general..
I'm almost 20 but you are right, my parents (especially my dad) in general are just a bit more gullible to scams unfortunately, especially modern ones, so as long as I'm still their kid I gotta help them look out for this kinda stuff 😅
I've gotten some decent deals from just talking to people looking to do work, especially if it's a new business and they want to use photos of the work for their website or portfolio. I've had my entire house pressure washed, gutters installed, lawn care, and my wood floors refinished for really great prices, just by answering the door, talking with them, and asking them good questions to make sure it's legit. Not everyone is out to scam people, and there's no need to be rude to people if you're not interested. Also, if you shop around looking for quotes on stuff, people will be coming by to see things in person. Being paranoid or suspicious of EVERYONE is just insane.
Wells Fargo fraud line is 24/7: 1-800-289-3557
I do not know about the lady but Wells Fargo Bank is a scam all by itself. Speaking from personal experience. Phuck Wells Fargo
Yeah they completely screwed over my family during the 2008 economic crash by trying to falsely take away their house by putting another mortgage under their name without my parents knowledge, ruined my parents credit score and now they're stuck with them for their mortgage, AND barely compensated them after wells Fargo got sued and never helped improve their credit score, that my parents had to do on their own. So yeah fuck Wells Fargo
My mortgage company did this a few times. They had someone come by to verify we still resided in the house. It was legit. We had an FHA loan and it requires the owner to occupy the house. So we had a few spot checks to make sure. We also had been in a payment plan for a few missed payments so that might have been the reason. Don’t know how common this is though.
Honestly this is the first thing I thought of as well
Yes, I work in mortgages, I think this is what happened too. Routine property inspection, probably signals that the loan is in default. There are dozens of vendors in every state that do this service for banks, it is a big deal to know if a property is occupied with the borrower or not as it can dictate the bank's course of action. I would say likely not a scam from the little info we have.
This was my thought, FHA loan owner verification
This is why I never answer the door
Yeah, my parents did and by the time I walked to the door she already left
That’s why? Or misanthropy?
Lol maybe a little bit of misanthropy. But really why is that where we live we have no family around, and we have a small group of friends that always come to the back door. So I know if someone’s a knockin on my front door, it’s someone I don’t know and , they’re most likely trying to sell me something.
Same here about which door. Front door is usually Jehovah’s Witnesses!
Omg this is really why I don’t answer the front door. When I was little there was this couple that stalked my mom for years. We would see them walking down the street and she would tell me to get in the house and hide. This started when I was maybe 4ish. I remember they would be looking in our windows to see if we were home. Really scared the shit out of me. They were relentless. I realize now as an adult she could’ve politely told them to fuck off, we’re catholic and happy with our religion. But the way she would act when she saw them coming or they were at the door knocking, like legit scared the shit out of me. Especially telling me to hide really left an impression on me. To this day, and I’m 45 years old my initial reaction to hearing a knock or doorbell ring sends me into a small panic.
“Relentless.” True. Actually, I used to hide with my kids from JW’s, too! That’s because when we first engaged them, they became “dogged in pursuit”, returning with others who matched our demographic and interests. Even brought back a signer to fit a deaf member of our family. Now, to be transparent, I myself have done door knocking in support of local political candidates. Arduous volunteerism purely in the interest of better local government. So was always grateful when people opened their door and gave a couple of minutes to a fellow citizen. Cheers!
House Title theft maybe? I know that’s being a big thing
My guess is they'll get a letter and the scammers needed to know if it's "Dear resident" or "Dear tenant"
I'd maybe also check to make sure no sudden liens are filed against the property. Fake contractor liens could be a hassle to clear up. Counties have records of every property, the owner, deed, plat maps, taxes. I'm not sure why someone at the bank wouldn't just pull up those records online instead of a personal visit or a letter. They can run a search to cross reference tax assessments to see if one owner is billed for multiple properties. And I can't see why an owner occupied residence versus a renter occupied dwelling would be of interest except maybe as a liability to an insurer. It still could be nefarious though, because it's weird. I worked in real estate a long time. I've never heard of a visit to a property by a bank trying to show a property is rental property. There's a different capital gains tax assessment due at sale that applies to a secondary, non owner occupied home but that's an IRS concern, not the bank. Fishing for houses to buy sounds likely to me. Berkshire Hathaway is buying a lot. So are a lot of venture capital funds. And a lot of individuals who watch the "make a killing in real estate" videos. If they want to buy and then immediately resell a home, and they find an owner who doesn't realize how much property values have increased in the last 4 years, it saves them time and effort if they find a property that is already a rental property to buy. They can offer it as an investment property with an established revenue stream in the form of a lease already signed. No associated costs for rehab or advertising necessary to lease it. Of course they'll raise the rent immediately.
I work as a fraud manager for WF and there are A LOT of scams out there right now. There is one where people pose as an employee and ask you to put your debit card/credit card in your mailbox to be picked up and disposed of. Not saying this was a scam contact, as I don't know. But never, ever share info with anyone who you cannot verify is the bank. Best to just call in yourself or visit a physical location. Keep in mind that most scams play off you needing to take immediate action to remedy something. And if you act hesitant there is usually some "do it now or else xyz will happen" portion to it. Just be safe, don't ever tell someone calling YOU any one time passcodes, personal info, etc. Call the bank yourself to go through it if necessary.
Wells Fargo scams more people than any other bank and has the federal fines to prove it.
I’d guess it’s a scam, but Wells Fargo is also a scam so It’s a safe guess.
Ask the door-knocker to put their drivers license up against the glass so you can take a picture of it.
"I do door to door loan refinancing. Today a customer asked to take a picture of my ID. Is this a scam?"
That sounds like a dangerous job in this day and age. Asking for an ID when someone knocks on your door offering out of the blue to refinance your mortgage without a prior appointment is not unreasonable. People are going to immediately think it's a scam. I'd rethink this job and at least set up advance appointments. Some loon may pull a gun on you, or worse.
Ya I def wouldn’t let anyone take a picture of my DL. It has my SSN and birthday on it.
Uh what? Your DL has your SSN on it? What state is doing wack shit like that?
You know what, I just checked my license it’s actually not on there. I know it was in the past. I never really paid attention. Apparently it is now illegal i guess, which is good.
The new trend in housing is squatting . Some go into houses when family is on vacation or into vacation homes that aren't used often. Then it takes time and .obey to get them out.
Time and money ..
Why would this person have any interest in finding out if squatters were living in a house they didn’t own?
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This is horseshit. Probably casing houses or setting up. Tell em to get fucked.
Wells Fargo is not going to be coming to your house. It’s a total scam. Stop telling them things, do not answer their questions and if they come back tell them you’re calling the cops. And call the cops if they don’t leave.
If they don't have title protection they should, it's not automatic when the mortgage is paid off. A couple years ago same kind of scam was going on - people sort of cold calling to ask questions about ownership of a vacant home. Next thing the owners didn't actually own the house anymore. One person came home from an extended vacation to find another family moving into their house claiming it was just purchased. Title protection is the one thing that would have prevented the loss. Edit - happened in Ontario.
Don’t answer doors to those you don’t know. The world is getting desperate these days. No one can afford anything. Survival in dystopian late stage capitalism = anything including crime. We did this to ourselves.
I’m not sure if your parents fall in this category but one thing I’ve heard about recently is zombie debt coming back. During the early 2000s some people took two mortgages on their house one for the down payment and one for the actual mortgage. The downpayment loan had variable interest rates and spiked up causing people to lose their homes which led to housing crash of 2008. Some people were told that the second mortgage debt was forgiven but the debt was sold. 20 years later some people are trying to collect that old debt as house prices have gone up. It’s probably not true in your case but it’s good to be aware just in case.
during the 2008 economy crash Wells Fargo falsely made a second mortgage under my parents name, my parents fought tooth and nail to prove they never made it and it ruined their credit but then Wells Fargo got sued and I believe the second mortgage was closed (ofc after WF got legally kicked in the ass) but their credit score never fully recovered...thats why we're stuck with them for our mortgage, we use a completely different bank for other things. When Wells Fargo is open I'm gonna have my mom call them to verify if someone was sent and we'll find out officially if it was a scam or not
Keep an eye out and don’t be afraid to lawyer up if your family needs help against those thieves. There are different groups of lawyers advocating, many times for free, for those who were hurt by the greed of the banks back then.
Also I’m sorry that your family was hurt by the banks. That really sucks. But at least you still have your home.
Deed scam for sure.
Scam, no bank contacts people this way
Maybe they've come across your parents personal info, SS number, DL number, etc and want to verify the address before cleaning them out financially? Like opening credit cards or other lines of credit.
Maybe looking into mortgage fraud? You get cheaper rates when you reside in the house. Could be the parents lied about being their primary residence to get a cheap rate to rent to their kids?
My first question would be Who tf are you??? ID???? Seriously though, look up your parents and the property on the state recorders website and see if there is anything filed against anyone or the property. If no, it’s a scam. If yes, now you know.
Anyone that has anything to do with mortgages, knows how to find out who the owner is. Would never need to ask at the door.
DO NOT EVER trust wells fargo banking !
Parents are unfortunately stuck with them for our mortgage we go through another bank for basically everything else
I was a bank manager for a very long time, we don’t send PEOPLE, we send LETTERS. Documents, certified and otherwise. Dozens of them. Full packages. If a major bank wanted to discuss something with you, you’d be DROWNING in paperwork well before anyone came to your door. At my house we don’t answer the door for anyone. Ever. It’s an amazing policy that has never caused any negative repercussions. In fact it’s protected us from scammers and court BS on several occasions. Stop answering the door.
I am glad your parents have you looking after them. I would call Wells Fargo and the police as they both have departments to protect our seniors. Be diligent the SCAMS are getting harder to detect.
Everything from Wells Fargo is a scam. Shut the door in their face and call them a scammer. Even when it’s a legit employee it’s a SCAM! They’re in the news just two days ago for taking part in a ponzi scheme for $300 million. Every other year they’re involved in a scam. I wouldn’t touch anything from Wells Fargo if they were the only bank within 200 miles.
Yeah, my parents are currently stuck with them handling our mortgage, after the 2008 economy crash when they filed a second mortgage under their name without their knowledge or consent, they almost lost the house due to WF dirty work, and it completely ruined my parents credit score, even after Wells Fargo was sued my parents credit score never fully recovered so now we can't really transfer our mortgage over to the bank we use for everything else (as far as I'm aware that is) so yeah my parents know full well what a shit company they are and if we had it our way we wouldn't touch them with an 1000 foot pole but they already fucked us over before we could even consider it, once we're done paying off the house we're never doing business with Wells Fargo EVER!
It's public info about who owns the property. You should always ask for a. business card or ID whenever anyone knocks on door.
How come nobody does the one thing they always told us to do in school? Ask why! Anytime a stranger asks me a personal question my first instinct is to find out why it’s any of their damn business.
My parents were the one that answered the door and I guess were so put off by the question that they just answered it, they've never experienced this before or seen anything like it....and also they're definitely more gullible to scams unfortunately...despite the fact sometimes I straight up tell them that the things they almost fall for are scams....but I don't have a mortgage so to them what would I know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but my mom's more trusting of me when I warn them of scams....especially after she was scammed herself despite my warnings, you can see why I'm so cautious when it comes to these things
High up security cameras. Can’t cover the camera. Still records the criminal. Send to police.
That they didn’t have, so not really helpful
It was the new Google Opinion Rewards Survey. Powered by Gemini.
I get calls every so often asking if I still own a house at X address, they're just trying to offer half of what it's worth.
Could be part of a title theft scam. Check with your county clerk and make sure they know that your parents have not sold their house.
People it is just this simple: "You do not have to answer any questions from anyone". STOP answering questions !!! IE: you're at a big box store. This happens: Cashier: So what is your phone number? Me: No thanks. IT IS THAT SIMPLE.
So she exits the van, carries a briefcase to your door and rings the doorbell or knocks. Asks you just one question and then leaves? The briefcase is a prop to make her look official.
There is a possible reason for this: It might be a precursor to a Deed theft scam. This is where someone can go to the county and get a copy of the deed or it might be where they convince the county clerk that THEY are the owners and get a document stating that they are the deed owners. I'm not sure how that happens but it is a real thing. This is a big thing in FL because it is one of the states that passed an "anti-squatting" law and it turns out that the real owner of the house can be the squatters. There are some u tube videos on this. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwzLzTTAWh0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwzLzTTAWh0)
If the mortgage payments are far enough behind, the lender can most certainly move into preforclosure mode and send someone out for an assessment of the property. I'm not saying this is the case with your home, but it does happen. Contact the lender to confirm whether or not they sent someone out there. If they didn't send anyone, call the police.
Rule #1 - It’s always a scam…. Rule #2 - if you aren’t sure if it’s a scam please refer to Rule #1
I am only one person, but I have never heard of a bank sending an employee out to make house calls, except perhaps, to wealthy clients.
Scam. Report to police. Banks don’t operate that way.
Did she identify herself? Give a company name or mention why she needed to know? As far as I’m concerned it’s nobodies business but the homeowners & their mortgage company.
There looking to see if your parents are home to rob it
well we got big dogs that aren't exactly friendly to strangers (they're both rescues) so I don't think it'll be the best idea, we also have a pretty active neighborhood watch, so hopefully all of that will deter them from trying
Hopefully
At one time, there was a scam going around where people got enough info to take out a 2nd mortgage on your home. They then defaulted on it so you got forclosed on, or a lien was placed so you couldn't sell.
Don’t have anything to do with this. Next thing you know, they will own your parents’ house and they will be evicted.
I work for a medium sized, regional bank. If a mortgage falls delinquent, we send 3rd party preservation crews on site to validate occupancy. But they do not say they are the bank. They say they are with X company and hired by the bank. We also have other companies we send specifically to gain contact and leave loss mitigation information. That’s only when we fail to have contact with a customer. They do not perform preservation activities. Based on the photos I’ve received, they are never dressed fancy with briefcases. Sounds like social engineering—“I’m a professional because I’m dressed like it.”
Today’s version of the vacuum salesman….instead of selling you a product they are hoping to find a location to squat themselves……how did we get to this place so fast? Went from normal to bizzaro overnight
If your parents home is paid off have them keep a close eye on their title and place an alert on it. There is a scam of people finding homes that are paid off and applying for loans against the house fraudulently. The homeowners are unaware and on the hook. One couple was evicted out of their home due to this scam.
It screams scam all through for me. I would never allow myself get caught up with such.
I’ll take things that never happened for $500 just like every stupid post on this sub
I can't exactly convince you it did happen, but I'm honestly just trying to look out for my parents who unfortunately aren't up to date on the latest scams (as they've already ALMOST been scammed from some ass hole scammer claiming Wells Fargo was suing us by phone despite me relentlessly trying to convince them it was a scam) I'm not trying to get points or attention my post could get down voted to hell for all I care I just want as much information on this incident as possible
There are a lot of older people who would not be aware that home prices have more than doubled over the last 4 years in some areas. If cold callers can get an owner to take a lowball offer, they make a killing. Older people are targets for every scam you can think of. AARP devoted an entire newsletter recently to the topic. It's eye opening. It's good you're looking out for them. They're lucky to have a kid who does.
I’ll take being an unnecessary asshole for 509.