...after handing over a check for $150,000, Helm was stunned to learn that the photo was of a house next door to the vacant 3,600-square-foot lot he’d actually been bidding on. The lot, which doesn’t even have a water connection, has an assessed value of $4,000, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

Marin broker Jeff Helm said he had a title company research this and this is the 1st time in 10yrs this has happened to him. Maybe the title company gave him bad information, but too bad.  Because the county doesn't care. It's cash only. No returns. All sales final.   OUCH!!

This is not fake. This is a real condo for sale for $389,000! Property description : 
Beautiful three story condo located in central Austin, backing up to a wooded greenbelt. This condo had several windows that overlook the gorgeous greenbelt that is full of large trees. The windows have custom plantation shutters. Each story has its own deck as well as its own central air/heat. The condo is also equipped with a central vacuum system.

A GROUP OF singletons in Japan who claim they were tricked into buying apartments by real estate agents feigning a romantic interest in them launched legal action this week....Once contracts were signed and sealed, the romance disappeared and the estate agent skipped out of the relationship, leaving the new homeowners with the keys to a new front door but not to anyone else’s heart...One victim was persuaded to buy three properties

From Inman: Two women in Houston posing as a real estate agent and a home buyer conned sellers into leaving their homes for showings so the duo could rob their houses, according to police. One of the schemers was being held in police custody Tuesday, and the other was still at large. 

In one incident, the owners of a listed home were notified by their real estate agency that a buyer wanted to see their house right away, police said. The owners left the home immediately without putting their jewelry away, and when they returned, the jewelry was gone. The real estate agency told police that the woman posing as an agent used a real estate license and number. However, she did not have a super key so the home owners had to let her and the buyer inside.

Radar Online:
Luis’ twin brother, David, was also in on the scheme, Photoshopping a brand new oven into the kitchen and bookshelves that were non-existent. “If I put the real photos out there, nobody would come inside,” Luis said on the episode. “A little white lie isn’t going to kill anybody!”

SMH = shaking my head....tsk tsk

Example of how Luis Ortiz doctored pix of his listing