Houston man frowned at a sudden 'For Sale' sign on his own vacant lot. Then discovered a stranger had been 'selling' it online for 12 days
Matthew Tinley was lucky he saw the 'for sale' sign on time
Property owners expect to deal with maintenance, paperwork, and taxes, not worry about someone else selling their land. Houston man Matthew Tinley spoke to KHOU11 after he saw a "for sale" sign in front of his vacant lot. On August 7, 2026, as he was driving through Paschall Street in the Near Northside neighborhood, he thought someone had accidentally put the sign on his lot. When he did his research online, he realized there were bigger fish to fry. The video was shared on August 14, 2026, and has received 2,103 views since.
$389,000 mistake
"The sign's right here, and I see it and wonder what's going on, and so I take a picture of the sign," Tinley told the outlet. He believed it was a mistake, but one quick search on the internet revealed that the "for sale" sign was very real. The listing had been up online for eight days, and his property was listed for $389,000.
He reached out to Felicia Johnson, the realtor. After claiming to be the owner of the lot, Johnson sent him a copy of the identification she received from her "client." "It looked fake right off the bat. And so that's when I realized that this is serious and that I was being targeted for seller impersonation fraud," he said. All the information on the card was fake, except for Tinley's name and his old address.
'It's just a driver's license'
The incident left Tinley feeling ruffled. He explained, "I was surprised how little information it takes for (a) listing agreement to be kind of authorized. And, as far as I know, it's just a driver's license." He has reported the incident to the Houston Police Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. He also contacted the realtor, her brokerage, and the Houston Association of Realtors. The listing was finally removed 12 days after it was posted. He bought the land in 2020 and planned to build a house on it one day. He shared his story as a way to warn other property owners, "If somebody can learn from this and understand that this is happening in this area, and possibly help avoid the situation."
Rising identity theft
Tinley's case sheds light on the growing threat of identity theft and impersonation fraud. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) shared in a 2023 press release that in 2021, 23.9 million U.S. residents above the age of 16 had been victims of identity theft over the last year. Almost 1% had their personal information misused for fraudulent purposes. This included applying for a job, getting medical care, or getting government benefits. 56% of the victims spent at least a day or less to fix the problems caused by the theft. In Tinley's case, it took 12 days for the realtor to take the listing down.
'You have to look at the realtor'
Netizens believed that the realtor and the fraudster were in on the scheme together. Johnson refused to appear for an in-person interview and declined to provide a formal statement. @TexasbestflooringcompanyTexas commented, "The realtor was in on it and a scammer too." @baroneks added, "Well, obviously you have to look at the realtor, who is assisting the fraud scammer. She's playing 'Spend Dat' in the background."
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