BC realtor fined $110,000 and licence nixed after scamming client
A BC realtor who scammed a client out of $60,000 has been fined $110,000 and lost her licence.
According to a July 24 BC Financial Services Authority consent order, realtor Wendy Mills told a client she had a investment scheme that required the client to hand over $60,000 and the two of them would buy a property together which when sold the client would get her money back and make $20,000.
However, the Vancouver-based realtor took the $60,000 and instead paid off a $44,000 overdraft and didn't buy the property.
The consent order said Mills met the unnamed client when she sold a property for her in 2017.
It was after the sale that Mills mentioned the investment to the client and would have known that her client had made $200,000 on their recent property sale.
In early 2018, the client signed a co-ownership agreement for a unit and handed over a cheque for $60,000.
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Mills took the cheque and deposited it in her bank account which was $43,916 overdrawn.
The cash meant Mills was $15,000 in the black but less than 10 days later was $5,000 overdrawn.
The agreement said that Mills would put $130,000 into the new unit and have it in her name and hold the client's proportion in trust.
However, while Mills viewed the unit twice and discussed a price with the owner she didn't buy it, although she told her client she had.
Six months later, she told her client the unit was sold and paid her back $20,000 in small amounts over a month.
The client asked for the $60,000 back as they wanted to put it in a high-interest account to make $60 a month.
Mills then told the client of another unit in the same complex which they could buy as another investment together.
The setup was to be much the same as before with Mills chipping in $160,000 and the client $60,000.
Again the client would make $20,000.
However, Mills didn't buy the second unit.
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"She took no steps to acquire (the) Unit... Mills had no intention of acquiring (the) Unit," the consent order read.
Mills did however tell her client she'd bought it.
Mills told her client she was having renovations done to the unit and it was rented out. She said she couldn't sell the unit for a profit.
"If you want me to sell the townhouse and take a loss then you will also be taking a loss," Mills said in an email to her client.
Mills paid her client $8,000 in amounts from $1,000 to $3,000 but the client took legal action through the courts to get the remainder.
The two settled the civil suit with Mills paying $62,500, leaving the client about $10,000 out of pocket.
The consent order said Mills had been a licenced realtor since 2006 and had a clear record.
"Mills was experiencing extraordinary personal and family stresses that severely affected her well-being and professional capacity," the BC Financial Services Authority said. "Since the events... Mills has made substantial efforts to resolve these issues and has carried on her real estate practice to the present date without incident."
Regardless, the regulator stripped Mills of her licence and ordered her to pay a $110,000 fine plus $5,000 in costs.
The now former realtor has six months to pay.
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