CONCORD - The Jarakis could not believe their eyes, watching as a house is being built on their land in Concord, Massachusetts that thieves stole right from under them. "They stole our dream," Dr. Omar Jaraki said.
"They stole our property. They took a mortgage and they're building a house on it." Gone are some of the beautiful trees that the Jarakis wanted to keep, and the house is nothing like what they imagined.
Dr. Jaraki says they don't like it and they don't want it. It was an elaborate scheme.
Thieves targeted the vacant land and pretending to be Halla Jaraki, emailed a local realtor and put the property on the market. Owners looking for tax bill discover fraudulent sale The Jarakis live in South Carolina and had no idea their land was up for sale. They only discovered the problem when they called town hall looking for their tax bill.
That's when they say they were told the property was sold. Halla says she was shocked and told the clerk they did not sell their land, but, it was fraudulently sold. The Jarakis learned the property sold for $525,000, which was less than the asking price and much less than the million dollars it was actually worth.
The money was sent to a bank account and shipped overseas. Attorney Richard Vestein represents the Jarakis, he tells the I-Team the fake seller walked away with, "a quick half a million dollars for a counterfeit driver's license and a passport and sending a couple of emails. That's a day's work.
" The Jarakis bought the land in the upscale Concord neighborhood 33 years ago. They planned to build a family home on the property when they retired. So how did it happen? "So many other red flags" No one ever met or talked to the fraudsters who pretended to be Halla.
The thieves signed all of the documents electronically or sent them through the mail with a phony seal from a notary in Texas. "The minute I saw this deed, I knew it was a forgery," Vestein said. "You just can tell by looking at it.
Just the handwriting, it looks off...
There were so many other red flags." Red flags that the broker, and both the buyer and seller's attorneys missed. One of the biggest, the identification the thieves provided.
A South Carolina driver's license that looks nothing like a real one and a United States passport, both with the same photo. Impossible since license photos are taken at the department of motor vehicles. And, the woman in the fake ID's looks nothing like Halla, who tells the I-Team, this could happen to anyone.
"This is a disaster, not only for us but for other people like it's going to happen to them," Halla Jaraki said. What happens to the house? The Jarakis are heartbroken, the property had special meaning for them. The couple married in the Boston area and always planned to return.
Their lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the buyer and the lawyers involved in the transaction. "They're definitely getting their property back," Vestein said. "The only question is what do we do about the house.
There's kind of two ways to go, they can deed the property back to the owners, or there can some sort of financial settlement." The Jarakis want more than just their property and money. They want the fraudsters caught.
Halla says for all they have gone through, "these people need to be punished." There is a chance the thieves could be caught. The Jarakis and their attorney say the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into the fraud.
Cheryl Fiandaca is the chief investigative reporter for the I-Team at WBZ-TV..
