A WORKER was left stunned when he realized the land he owned had been suddenly put up for sale. Brian Beneski, of Maine , was the victim of deed fraud – a plight that realtors have described as a nightmare. He and his wife bought a 50-acre plot of land in 2021 but it was unexpectedly put on the market over the Memorial Day weekend, per The Bangor Daily News.
It appeared a drone had been used to take pictures and these had been uploaded to an online advert. "We thought the company we bought it from made a mistake or something," the state worker said. The couple spotted the land had been put up for sale thanks to a notification.
He and his wife scrambled to get the advert taken down and managed to do this within 24 hours. And they didn’t lose any money thanks to their swift reaction. Beneski reported the suspected deed fraud to county cops and lodged a complaint with the state attorney general.
“I called the sheriff and they were like, this is probably somebody from out of the country,” he told The Bangor Daily News. The company that accidentally put the property on the market has since spoken out. “It was just a nightmare,” Cathy Duffy, of the real estate company Progressive Realty, said.
She stressed that the company did its checks before listing the land. Last month, FBI agents warned deed fraud is happening across the US at an alarming rate. “What’s different about this type of fraud—comparing it to others, like romance scams—the criminals know the proce.