Scammers trying to sell homes they don't own

CHARLOTTE — Narendra Agrawal found an ad for a house in Derita for a great price.  Too great.  It was $34,000.

"The price was so low, it sounded like a scam, but many people cannot catch it," he said.

But there were other red flags.  You had to put money down -- 20% in cash -- before you could even see the home.

Attorney General Josh Stein says scammers know some homebuyers will risk thousands on a home sight unseen because -- in Charlotte -- homes are going so quickly.  "They pocket your money and you never hear from them again," he said.

Action 9 found the home's real owner, Rick Stikeleather.  He's a property investor and is selling the house, but had nothing to do with the bogus ad.   "Real mad.  I hate it for anyone to get cheated," he said.  "People work hard for their money."

And it can happen anywhere.  In this case, the scammers posted the ad on Zillow.  "I have seen those kind of scams on Craigslist, but I have never seen a scam like that on zillow.  That was a first time," Agrawal said.

Zillow yanked the phony post about Stikeleather's home and blocked the person who posted it.  The company told Action 9 it "goes to great lengths to police activity and fully inform our users of the existence of scams and how to protect themselves. Our customer support team monitors activity on the site in a number of different ways and if a listing is found to be fraudulent, it is immediately removed from Zillow.

Zillow has a "beware of scams and other internet fraud page on the site, telling users to look out for red flags like requests for wire transfers and long-distance inquiries, and provides other valuable information about how to avoid fraudulent listings."

Click here to report scams and fraud on Zillow

But no matter what site you use, "You have to be so careful with everything," Agrawal said.

Want to know how to find out who owns a home? Watch the video below.

Cox Media Group