A recent incident here on St. George Island should be of concern to property owners, buyers and Realtors. Someone contacted an out of town auction company about selling their gulf front lot on St. George Island, and signed the listing/auction documents with the company. During the marketing phase of the auction, I recognized the property address and contacted the owners who are personal friends of mine. I knew they would have told me, if they were auctioning their lot. They knew nothing about the auction, and their property was not for sale! A professional con man had gone over the public records and found a vacant lot with no mortgage and out of town owners. Had this auction gone through, an unsuspecting buyer would have paid over a half million dollars for a lot that belonged to someone else. And the property owners are now dealing with this incident of identity theft.
