Thirty-year-old Abdoul Aziz Bah, who went under the alias “Richard Anderson” in Stockbridge, Ga., pled guilty on Aug. 27, 2024, to one felony count of money laundering. He also paid $5,000 in cash as partial restitution to his victims, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.
In April 2023, Bah, using the false name, created multiple false limited liability corporations (LLCs) to receive and launder large amounts of cash stolen from real estate transactions. On March 1, 2023, a Newbury Park family that was purchasing a local home inadvertently followed fraudulent wire instructions directing them to wire more than $200,000 to an account under the control of Bah instead of the victims’ escrow company. Bah then quickly divided the stolen money into smaller amounts and transferred them to bank accounts allegedly under the control of a codefendant, 39-year-old Jasmine Shante Faniel who went under the alias “Teresa Dennis” and lived in Conyers, Ga. Faniel, like Bah, then allegedly used false LLCs to open multiple accounts at multiple banks in Georgia also for the sole purpose of receiving and laundering money stolen from real estate transactions.
Faniel was arrested in Georgia on Aug. 1 of this year and extradited to Ventura County by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit. She remains in custody at the Ventura County Jail with bail set at $1 million.
Bah’s conviction is the result of an extensive investigation by the District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit, with assistance from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit, which completed the extradition of both defendants back to Ventura County, according to those agencies. Bah faces up to three years in jail.
The D.A. is warning Ventura County residents taking part in real estate transactions to independently verify instructions given to them by an escrow office to send money via a wire or cashier’s check. Citizens should call a known escrow agent on that specific transaction to confirm the wire instructions before sending funds. Further, they should not reply directly to the email or phone number sending any wire instructions.
“Wire fraud in real estate transactions is rapidly increasing, posing a significant threat to both buyers and sellers,” the D.A.’s office said in a statement. “According to the FBI, fraudsters are increasingly employing sophisticated social engineering techniques to infiltrate real estate transactions by impersonating trusted parties such as escrow officers, real estate agents, title representatives, and other key figures. This type of fraud typically occurs through electronic communications, with emails being the primary medium.”
Fraudsters target buyer’s closing funds, seller’s proceeds, lender’s funds and broker commissions.
“By intercepting or manipulating communication, they deceive the parties into wiring money to fraudulent accounts, often leaving victims with significant financial losses and little recourse,” read the statement.
It says a red flag for suspicious behavior is when emails or text messages claim an escrow company has recently “changed banks.”
“As the real estate market continues to digitize, fraudsters are finding new avenues to exploit, making it more critical than ever for all parties involved in real estate transactions to be cautious, verify requests, and take extra steps to ensure the authenticity of communications,” the D.A.’s office says. It recommends the following precautions:
— Always confirm wire instructions using a known phone number of a known
party in your transaction before sending funds. Never use a number provided via email, text or an incoming call, even if it appears legitimate.
— Know that escrow and title companies rarely change bank account information.
— After wiring funds, immediately call the escrow or title company using a trusted number to confirm receipt.
— Use two-factor authentication when possible on any email account used to transmit messages concerning real estate transactions you are involved in.
