Six-figure scam attempt: Raleigh man's land nearly sold online by impersonator

Jon Arnold actually found his property near Avent Ferry Road listed on Zillow.

Preventing disaster has taken a lot of work. There's a sign Arnold had to put up to stop people from visiting the property. That step was just part of a process that went as far as contacting the FBI.

Arnold's owned a vacant lot on Tanager Street since the 1980s. That nearly changed last week as a complete shock to him.

"Just surprise," Arnold said of his reaction.

On Dec. 16, real estate agent Paul Huber sent Arnold a message, saying he'd been contacted by someone claiming to be Arnold who wanted to sell the Tanager Street property.

Huber says the man sent him an ID, which was a perfect copy of a North Carolina driver's license.

"I’ve never seen him before, but he’s made a very good ID of my driver’s license," Arnold said.

But the scammer's suspicious story, saying he needed cash quick to buy a new home in Michigan led Huber to believe it was fake.

"It just wasn’t adding up in my mind, and that’s why I just asked for that further," Huber said. "Because I’ve seen this in other parts of the country."

Another Raleigh real estate agent had posted the listing for the scammer. Arnold was able to get in contact with realtor Cindy Poole Roberts and have it taken down, then contacted the Wake County Sheriff's Office, who said to file a complaint with the FBI as well.

After nearly having up to $200,000 stolen from him, Arnold said he's going to have to watch his property, his ID and credit much more closely.

Arnold says he's relieved the property wasn't sold out from under him.

"It would be a phony sale, but it could take place and then there would probably be a big legal mess that would need to be cleaned up," Arnold said.

"We chatted very briefly on the phone," said Roberts. "But it was very brief. He did have a heavy accent which I did kind of wonder about. But I’ve been doing this 21 years and I’ve never had anybody lie about wanting to sell something."

Roberts listed the property, and she quickly got two offers on the land. That's when things took a turn.

"It evidently hit Zillow," Roberts said. "So the real Jon Arnold gave me a call."

Roberts said she's now going to require a face-to-face conversation for any future deals at her agency.

So what can you do to protect your property from a scam like this? Huber says his biggest piece of advice is claim your property online on websites like Zillow. That way if it's ever fraudulently listed, you'll get an alert immediately and can take action.