Is a "we buy land" text a scam? How to check before you reply

Most texts offering to buy your land, even the ones that name your county or parcel, are not scams in the criminal sense. They are bulk marketing from wholesalers hoping to put your parcel under contract cheaply. A smaller number are fraud attempts using the same script. The two call for different responses, and the checks below tell them apart.

Who sends these texts

Three kinds of senders use the "we buy land" script.

• Wholesalers, the large majority. A wholesaler tries to get your parcel under contract at a low price, then assigns that contract to another buyer for a fee. The transaction is real, but the opening offer is usually far below market value, and the texts go out in bulk to thousands of owners at once.
• Investors and land flippers buying for themselves. Also real, also usually starting with a lowball number.
• Scammers, the minority. They copy the same script because it gets replies, then steer the conversation toward upfront fees, personal information, or documents you cannot verify.

Why land owners are hit hardest

Vacant land is the easiest asset to target from public data. County records list the owner and mailing address, and an out-of-state address flags you as absentee. There is no tenant, no neighbor, and no house for anyone to watch, so problems can build for a long time before the owner notices anything. Bulk texting is cheap, so land owners sit at the top of every campaign. If you are wondering how a stranger got your cell number in the first place, the path runs through skip-tracing and people-search sites, traced in how did a wholesaler get my phone number.

Signs it is a real wholesaler

These tells point to a real, if aggressive, operator:

• The parcel details are accurate: county, acreage, sometimes the assessor number.
• The offer is specific but noticeably below what comparable land sells for.
• The language mentions cash, quick close, as-is, or covering closing costs.
• Nobody asks you for money at any point. The money is supposed to flow to you.
• The company exists when you search for it independently, with a consistent name and contact details.
• The same pitch keeps arriving from different numbers, which is normal for list-based campaigns.

Red flags that point to a scam

• Any request to send money first: processing fees, back taxes, notary costs, or a deposit to "release funds".
• Payment or fees requested by wire transfer, gift cards, or cryptocurrency.
• Requests for your Social Security number, bank login, or a photo of your ID early in the conversation.
• Extreme urgency, an offer that expires in hours, or pressure to sign before you can verify anything.
• A claimed company whose website, phone number, or email does not match what the text uses.
• An offer well above market with pressure attached. Overpaying strangers is not a business model.

If a message trips these flags, treat it as hostile until proven otherwise, and see the deeper breakdown of how the text-to-buy scam works.

How to verify before you respond

• Do not use the contact details in the text. Look the company up independently and call the number you find, not the one you were given.
• Paste the message or number into the free scanner. It classifies the sender as a wholesaler, investor, realtor, or scam and works without an account.
• Check your county recorder for anything filed against your parcel. Many counties also offer a free recording-alert program that emails you when a document is recorded under your name, which is worth enabling whether or not you ever sell.
• If you do want to sell, keep the closing inside a title company or with a real estate attorney, with money moving through escrow. A legitimate buyer will not resist that. Anyone who insists on skipping title work is telling you something.
• Never pay money to receive money. No genuine land sale requires that.

What a safe response looks like

For a suspected scam, the safest response is none, followed by a junk report. For a real wholesaler you want gone, silence also works, but if you prefer to shut it down explicitly, keep it short, decline clearly, and share nothing new about yourself or the property. The scanner includes ready-to-copy replies matched to the sender type, so you can respond firmly without improvising. What you should not do is negotiate casually by text with an unverified stranger, or reply STOP to obvious spam, which mostly confirms your number is live.

If you think it is fraud

Forward the text to 7726, the carrier spam-reporting shortcode. Report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov. If you sent money or shared financial details, file a report with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov as soon as possible, and contact your bank. If anything suspicious has been recorded against your parcel, contact your county recorder office directly.

Stopping the next one

If a land text is sitting in your inbox right now, paste it into the free scanner to see who sent it and get a reply you can copy. On iPhone, the FendLand spam filter reads incoming message content on-device and routes wholesaler and scam texts to the Spam folder in Messages, including numbers never reported before. These campaigns start with your data being easy to buy, so checking where you are listed and removing yourself shrinks the next wave.

Sources

• Federal Trade Commission, Report Fraud
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)