Women real estate agents…HEAD’S UP!!!
A suspicious serial caller going by the name of “Dwayne Bergeman” is calling women real estate agents all around the country. Since last October, this man has been calling women agents in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Louisiana, Hawaii and now Arizona.
Carl Carter, the founder of the Beverly Carter Foundation dedicated to improving safety for real estate agents nationwide and the son of an Arkansas agent who was kidnapped and murdered in 2014, believes this caller has a phone application that gives him a spoof. “Every time he calls, he’s calling from a different number. And every time he calls, he calls from the agent’s area code, which is part of the reason (the agents) are picking up the phone.”
Nicole Courtney, a Realtor in Tempe, Arizona, is “Dwayne Bergeman’s” latest focus. “When he called me he was very, very weird,” said Courtney. “He was short with me and he was vague…he just said he wanted a house…now.”
Bergeman knew exactly the type of house he wanted despite being vague…single-family, 3 bedrooms, north Phoenix, pool, two-car garage. His telltale quirks were his “deep, deep voice, delayed, vague, weird responses, and his urgency to start seeing houses now.”
Courtney Googled Bergeman after getting off the phone, found multiple articles about a “suspicious caller” to exclusively women real estate agents around the country, called the police and called Carl Carter at the Beverly Carter Foundation.
John Dulczewski, the executive vice president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, was quoted in several articles referenced by Courtney that Bergeman had called five women agents, in some cases multiple times. In each case, Dulczewski said that the man with the very deep voice “…expressed urgency in wanting to see properties as quickly as possible. The concern here would be some sort of physical attack and the risk posed to a (woman) agent’s safety by interacting with an individual they have no prior familiarity or contact with.”
What to do if/when Dwayne Bergeman calls you, women agents? Call the police. Call your local Realtors association. Do not have any contact with this person. Do not show this person any properties.
And while we’re at it, in light of the recent bombings in Austin, HEAD’S UP to ALL male and female agents, look out for suspicious packages left at properties you might be showing to clients.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives defines a suspicious package as…
– one wrapped in string or twine
– one with no, non-cancelled or excessive postage
– one with leaks, stains, strange odors, protruding wires,
electrical tape
- one with nonsensical or no return address
- one with handwritten addresses or nonsensical company label
- one with foreign writing, addresses, postage
- one with badly typed, handwritten or misspelled name and address
- one with handwritten notes such as “To be opened in private,” “Confidential,” “Prize Enclosed.”
DO NOT PICK UP THESE TYPES OF PACKAGES LEFT ON PROPERTIES YOU ARE SHOWING!!!!!!
