Someone's been trying to sell Fred Benenson's Connecticut land for two years. He's not selling.
Benenson and his brother bought a 1.32-acre vacant parcel in Wilton, Connecticut in 2015. Since March 2024, scammers have impersonated them three times to list the property, working through legitimate brokerages and generating actual cash offers.
The scheme works because verification is optional. In the first attempt, an impostor contacted a realtor through Zillow, provided accurate property details, and submitted a fake New York driver's license with Benenson's father's information but a stranger's photo. The listing went live across dozens of real estate sites. A builder made a full-price cash offer before an attorney caught it during due diligence.
The tells were subtle: slightly awkward phrasing in texts, refusal of a for-sale sign, reluctance to meet in person. The fake email used "frederickbenenson@bifir.com" - accurate details with a throwaway domain.
Benenson walked his evidence into the FBI's New York office. They made him handwrite the complaint on a single piece of paper. He never heard back.
By February 2026, it happened again.
This matters beyond real estate. The same verification gaps exist in enterprise software procurement, cloud service provisioning, and SaaS contracting. Someone with enough research can impersonate decision-makers long enough to move deals forward, especially when transactions happen entirely via email.
The attorney who caught the first fraud now requires independent ownership verification for all vacant land sales. That policy exists because he'd seen this exact scheme nine months earlier.
Worth noting: Property records show a sale recorded March 18, 2024 - right when the first fraud attempt occurred. Zillow marks the property "off market" while Land.com still shows active listings. The verification systems aren't talking to each other.
The lesson isn't about real estate fraud. It's about what happens when verification depends on someone deciding to check. Most of the time, nobody does.