Matthew and Camille Donegan had informed their neighbors that if they ever decided to sell some vacant land they own in Lebanon County, they would offer it to them first.
The Donegans are New York natives who travel frequently to Lebanon County to get away from the city. They were somewhat surprised when one of those neighbors enquired about their land being posted for sale, a conversation that ensued when they contacted that neighbor to wish him a happy Thanksgiving.
The Donegans, who agreed to speak with LebTown on the condition that the property’s location is not published, said they figured someone tried to fraudulently sell their land.
“My neighbor texted me and said, ‘Oh, Matt, I didn’t know you were selling your land.’ … He called me up and said, ‘There’s a for sale sign on your land and it’s multi-listed on the internet for sale,’” Matthew said.
Donegan responded immediately to the Lebanon County Recorder of Deeds’ office and told them what had happened even though that was on Thanksgiving Day.
“So Friday morning, believe it or not, we got a call early from Dawn (Blauch) in the deeds department and she said she had already called Coldwell Banker and told them to take the listing down. She also wanted to know how this might have happened,” Matthew said.
Matthew said a sales contract for the property had already been written with one condition.
“They had written up a contract to sell the land with the stipulation that the cash would be sent to a PO box address,” Matthew said, with Camille noting it was not the physical address that was used to receive the funds.
Matthew said a false email address was used on an internet-based platform used for electronic documentation, and the scammer had obtained his signature through that program. He noted a person’s signature becomes a default setting on that service, meaning it is available for others to use without their knowledge. Matthew told LebTown he had several accounts for other transactions with that company at that time.
“I recognized the signature and so I began to look at it and found that if you use that account and type my name in, that it will default to my signature. There are 16 different signatures you can use, but if you don’t touch it, it defaults to your signature,” Matthew said. “When I saw that at first, I thought he had hacked into my account. Later, it became apparent that all you have to do is create an account in someone else’s name.”
This incident was one of two to happen in Lebanon County since last fall involving the attempted fraudulent sale of vacant land, according to Dawn Blauch, recorder of deeds for Lebanon County.
Another attempted scam was perpetrated in the Cornwall area near the end of February, but a vigilant neighbor helped shut that one down. The property owner was traveling and unavailable to be interviewed for this article, according to Blauch.
Hank Lerner, chief legal officer for the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors, said Lebanon County is not immune from fraudulent real estate transactions. In fact, he noted several calls are received monthly to their hotline about real estate fraud being committed by bad actors across the commonwealth.
“I know when we’ve gotten this question, one of the easiest answers to say is basically if it looks too good to be true, then you should start being suspicious,” Lerner said. “Sellers who are looking for quick turnaround, or they only want cash offers and things like that. Things that just sort of seem a little bit off are generally worth, kind of, taking a pause and looking into further.”
Lerner also had advice for real estate agents. In Lebanon County, there are around 200 members of the Lebanon County Association of Realtors.
“In terms of the agent, kind of the same thing. If you have somebody who comes to you looking to sell a property quickly for cash, the low market rate, it would probably be a good reason to be suspicious. If you ask to talk to them and they come up with excuse after excuse why they can only text or email, that’s usually a pretty good red flag,” he said.
Outlandish reasons for not meeting should also set off alarms for real estate agents.
“There might be an issue. A lot of these scams involve people with really convoluted backstories about being on an oil rig for six months at a time or being out of the country on a church mission, things that are sort of designed to, not how do you keep asking them to be on the phone or on the internet because they’re coming up with reasons why they couldn’t possibly do it for long stretches of time,” Lerner added.
There were several commonalities with these two incidents of attempted fraud. Both involved vacant land owned by individuals who aren’t local residents and Realtors whose offices are based in other counties.
Fortunately, in both cases, the landowners have right-of-refusal agreements with their neighbors to offer their properties to them first for purchase before placing the land on the real estate market.
On Monday, the county Association of Realtors posted information on social media advising their members to be alert for fraudulent real estate transactions. Lerner reviewed those pointers prior to speaking with LebTown and noted their information was solid.
Noting that real estate agents are the first line of defense in helping to reduce fraud, the local association offered their members these pointers:
“Fellow agents, vacant land scams are on the rise, and scammers are targeting realtors to facilitate fraudulent sales! If you work with land transactions, especially with absentee or out-of-state sellers, be on high alert.”
How the scam works
- Scammers pose as the rightful owner of vacant, free-and-clear land (often from another state).
- They reach out to agents via email or text, claiming to want a quick sale with an all-cash buyer.
- They refuse to meet in person or provide verifiable ID, often citing travel, illness, or other excuses.
- They push for a fast closing and demand wire transfers — bypassing traditional escrow safeguards.
- If the sale goes through, the real owner is left with a fraudulent title transfer, and legal battles ensue.
Red flags of potential real estate fraud
- Seller only communicates via email or text, avoids calls/Zoom.
- They claim to be out of the country or unavailable for in-person signing.
- They have no real knowledge of the land or its history.
- They refuse to use traditional escrow/title companies or push for remote notarization.
- The land is priced well below market value for a quick sale.
- Documents have inconsistencies, including mismatched signatures.
The association advises its members to verify seller identity by requesting a government-issued ID and compare it with tax records. They also say to check ownership history by contacting the county recorder of deeds’ office to confirm recent activity. They told members to be cautious of urgent, cash-only deals that avoid standard procedures, and added agents should require in-person notarization for deed transfers when possible.
If fraud is suspected, agents should pause the transaction and report concerns to their broker and local authorities.
Lebanon County’s Records Alert system
In 2023, Lebanon County launched its Records Alert program to inform property owners when someone tries to file a fraudulent deed against them. Although that program won’t prevent this type of illegal activity from happening, if a sale were to go through, then the rightful owner would be immediately notified.
Read More: Records Alert program launched in Lebanon County
“It’s not fraud prevention but it is still beneficial because if it were to make its way through, the land owner would be notified in minutes,” Blauch said. “We haven’t seen anything like that happen here yet, and those two were fortunately halted before the transactions were able to go through.”
Blauch said one of the best defenses for this kind of crime is for neighbors to be vigilant and look out for each other.
“These two we know of, but are there more that we’re not aware of,” Blauch said. “But fortunately both of these were caught from interactions with a neighbor.”
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