SeaTac woman out tens of thousands of dollars after being target of Property Brothers scam

The HGTV show Property Brothers was Tammy Green and her husband Kevin’s favorite show.

After Kevin passed away, Tammy wrote to the show and let them know she needed help. But instead of home improvements by the Scott twins, scammers scheduled her bank account for a teardown.

“I mean, I’m just a widow. Surviving. Check by check, just trying to survive -- that’s all,” said Tammy.

Tammy sent in a request to be on the show several years ago. In January, she received an email from a Charles P. Hansen saying he was from “Scott Brothers Global.”

The note said, “Congratulations Tammy, your application has been approved for the forever home renovations.”

Tammy was then asked to send 20% totaling $50,000 upfront to start the process. Tammy told us she took out a home equity loan and wired $30,000 right away.

The scammers then told her to “get ready” and that “the visit will comprise of Scott & Drew, the inspection team, along with the HGTV Camera crew.”

Tammy signed contracts, picked out a day in May, and wired more money.

“And I just wanted to make sure that they were still going to show up on May 12, because I took a day off work. I sat home and I waited and waited and waited. No call, no show up. No nothing,” she said.

There was no Scott or Drew. In the end, she called me.

I contacted her bank, BECU, who wouldn’t comment on her case.

“They said it was legit because it had all the information on it,” Tammy said.

She said she called the Property Brothers and all she got was a spokesperson who sent her an email saying, “Thanks for getting in touch, and very sorry to hear about this.”

They then directed her to their web page with a scam warning saying, “We will never randomly contact people and ask for financial information.”

So for now, Tammy says she’s out $50,000 and the opportunity to retire.

“I’ll be 65 this month, and I definitely won’t be able to retire for another ten years because I’d have to pay this off. I’d have to work paid off because Social Security would barely make the mortgage payment,” said Tammy.

We still don’t know if she applied to a scam site.

Again, if someone approaches you saying they are going to make repairs-ask questions like, “Who are the contractors and subs they’ll use?”

Then find the number on your own and call them. Or check them out on the Labor and Industries website. You could also ask the building inspectors in the city you live if they have been contacted by the TV folks for permits and drawings.