{"id":633390,"date":"2026-04-28T04:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/633390\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:45:13","slug":"safety-warning-for-fraser-valley-realtors-after-several-bizarre-incidents-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/633390\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety warning for Fraser Valley realtors after several bizarre incidents – BC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Real estate professionals in the Lower Mainland are warning about several bizarre incidents recently, which they say are examples of why you can never let your guard down.<\/p>\n

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Realtor Xyrina Gutierrez told Global News about a bizarre meeting with a potential client that took place in the basement suite of a Surrey home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe mentioned that he has a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia who are billionaires and he wanted to fly (me) out in a private jet to Dubai,\u201d the realtor<\/a> with Stonehouse Real Estate said.<\/p>\n

She said he would touch her leg and every time she wanted to leave, he would turn the conversation around, even telling her at one point that her car had been towed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe calls a towing company and doesn\u2019t know I can hear them on the other end and he said \u2018You just towed a car and need to bring it back\u2019 and he gave them the address and they say we didn\u2019t tow a car from that house,\u201d Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n

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She said the man went outside to check on her car and that\u2019s when she left.<\/p>\n

Surrey police said the man had used an alias and they are investigating, along with a similar incident.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve since discovered that there was another incident with a similar MO on April 7, but in that case, the real estate agent did not go into the basement suite,\u201d Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton with the Surrey Police Service said.<\/p>\n

Real Estate agent Brittany McConnel told Global News she had pushback from a client when she asked for identification ahead of the meeting.<\/p>\n

Through court services online, the realtor with Royal LePage \u2013 Wolstencroft said she discovered the man had previous assault charges and other agents have had dealings with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen to 15 years that I\u2019m aware of and over 30 realtors he\u2019s targeted and basically waste their time because he\u2019s tying up properties,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFraser Valley home sales drop\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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McConnel never met with the man, but she can understand how others may skip safety steps.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been a rough go for us this past year and there is going to be some level of desperation for realtors to skip steps and make decisions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Agents are reminded to pre-screen clients, share their location with someone through their phone, have meetings in public places and consider using safety apps for real estate professionals.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board sent out an email to members about the importance of maintaining strong safety practices when working with members of the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, we have received informal reports from several members describing a pattern of interactions with a prospective buyer that raised concerns,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese patterns included repeated requests to view vacant properties, changes in contact information, and requests for transportation to and from showings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow realtors can protect themselves in open houses and private showings\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real estate professionals in the Lower Mainland are warning about several bizarre incidents recently, which they say are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,2169,236938,44,88270,236939],"class_list":["post-633390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-lower-mainland-realtors","tag-news","tag-realtor","tag-realtor-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}