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Identity Theft - Appraiser Style
The best advice comes from an FBI agent, though unfortunately for one appraiser, it came a little too late. That advice is: Be very careful who you work with and never give anyone authority to use your electronic signature. Here’s why.

Billy G., we will call him while the investigation is ongoing, has been appraising nearly 25 years and figures he has seen just about everything; everything except the dozens of appraisals completed using his signature and tax identification number.

The trouble began with lender requests to fix problem appraisals that were not his, and continues today, over one year later, as Billy battles to clear his name and extricate himself from the mess.

Trainee Trouble
The culprit is a trainee Billy took under his wing – we’ll call him Mr. X. For the first several months the relationship between mentor and trainee worked the way it is supposed to: Billy receiving orders from long-time clients and completing appraisals with trainee X, who was working from a home office. Billy visited all the properties with X and oversaw all appraisals from start to completion.

After some months, orders to Billy’s firm began to slow. Billy discovered that his clients were sending orders and payments directly to X, who was fraudulently using Billy’s electronic signature and tax ID to complete the work. Billy never saw the orders or the appraisals.

“When I realized what was going on, I immediately notified him (X) in writing to cease and desist and that the sponsorship was terminated. I also notified our state board and my clients in writing about the fraud,” Billy said.

Amazingly, some of his clients continued sending orders to X, buying his excuses and explanations. The fraud continued for nearly eight more months.

As Billy persisted trying to get X to stop, he says he was threatened and his property vandalized. The police are now involved. Out of desperation, Billy went to the FBI (white collar fraud unit) who is now on the case.

“The FBI told me that the only thing that saved me is the paper trail I have documenting my demands to stop using my signature. Otherwise, I would have had trouble proving my case.”

Aftermath
As a result of this tangled mess, Billy has lost clients for refusing to “fix” appraisals he didn’t do, owes the IRS taxes on money he didn’t receive (his attorney advises him to pay now and go after the trainee later) and is preparing for the worst: a substandard appraisal with his name on it coming back to haunt him. Given that X was producing a staggering five to 10 appraisals a day using his signature, Billy’s worry is justified.

Getting justice also seems remote. According to Billy, X has nothing in his name and hasn’t paid taxes in years. Full story  Subscribe