KCK couple has warning after property stolen by scammers
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Seree and Sipa Weroha gave FOX4 Problem Solvers a tour of the land they purchased more than 30 years ago. Land that was stolen from them in March by scammers, posing as them.
The empty lot is in the same neighborhood where they own a home, but the Werohas had no idea the land was being sold because no “For Sale” sign was ever placed on it. They only realized it had sold a month later, after Seree had been diagnosed with cancer and decided to simplify his financial portfolio for his family by selling his investment properties.
So, he called his realtor.
“I want to sell the lot,” Seree said he told his realtor. “A few hours later, he called me back. ‘You already sold it.‘“
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What happened to the Werohas was one of the boldest land scams that FOX4 Problem Solvers has ever seen.
The scammers provided the title company with fake driver’s licenses, claiming to be Seree and Sipa Weroha.
But the photos in those fake licenses look nothing like the real Werohas. For starters the scammers are not Asian (the Werohas were born in Thailand, but have lived in the United States for 40 years) and are much younger than the Werohas, who are both in their 70s.
The fake sellers never appeared at the closing for the $26,000 transaction, claiming to live out of state. So, no one ever met them.
The Massachusetts notary who stamped the paperwork told an investigator that his seal had been stolen.
The Johnson County realtor who listed the property, Claudia Mercado, said she was also duped, twice. Because the same scammers also convinced her to list an 11-acre parcel (also owned by the Werohas). She was in the process of selling that property for $350,000 when a title company noticed multiple red flags and quashed the deal.
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FOX4 Problem Solvers tried to ask Mercado about both property transactions, but she told us she would have to check with her broker before talking to us. We never heard back.
The title company – Alpha Title – reported the scam to the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. Both the title agent and Mercado, the listing agent, spoke to police. But that was more than a month ago and, so far, no arrests have been made.
An agent at Alpha Title said she provided police with dozens of documents, including a fake email set up by the scammers, the scammers bank account information (where they wanted the money transferred) and angry text messages from the scammers when Alpha put the brakes on the second deal.
The Werohas are working with the title company’s insurance company to get their property back. They’ve also put a freeze on their credit. But the Werohas and their son David still want answers.
“Just how were they able to get away with it from beginning to end and totally dupe the title company dupe everyone?” David Weroha asked. Plus, how did the fraudsters obtain his parents actual driver’s license numbers?
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Problem Solvers contacted the Kansas Department of Revenue to find out. But KDOR said it wasn’t aware of any security breach. A KDOR spokesperson said that because driver’s licenses are used for multiple purposes, including renting a car or buying alcohol, the information could have been stolen anywhere.
Stealing land and even houses has become an increasingly common scam in both Kansas and Missouri. Once your property is gone, it can be a nightmare to get it back. It’s a nightmare the Werohas are now living.
Wyandotte County, where the Werohas live, has an automatic alert in the county recorder’s office that will automatically notify property holders if a transaction has occurred.
Unfortunately, you only get the alert after the transaction has taken place.
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