Warning to Deed Holders: Don’t Fall for These Property Tax Relief Videos

Toby D. is a tax assessor in Douglas County, Colorado. Suddenly, Toby D. is fielding phone calls from disoriented deed holders.

Some callers ask if school property taxes in the Colorado county have been abolished. Some ask if it’s true that tax hikes were halted for seniors. Multiple people call with strikingly similar questions each day.

Realtor.com® spoke with Toby D. to learn more. What came to light is troubling. The National Association of REALTORS® found dozens of versions of these supposed public service announcements, with the same basic messaging, but with a variety of graphics and voices. Most of these videos, but not all, carried tags saying they were AI-generated.

Another Day, Another AI-Enhanced Scam

Behind the wave of confusion? AI-generated video clips, swarming social media. The viral videos have striking graphics and tell people they’re entitled to property tax relief. Realtor.com found 50 different versions of these videos running on YouTube.

In the announcements of a new federal property tax shield law, a narrator says homeowners are missing out on benefits because the details were buried in a large spending bill.

The message sounds totally plausible. This is because many counties and states do offer legitimate tax relief. State tax exemptions for senior deed holders are based on age and usually require that the senior has lived at the address for a certain minimum time.

Anyone with a computer can get their hands on an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. Scammers have never had an easier way to concoct videos, sow confusion, and manipulate large numbers of people at once.

Using AI, the manipulators can show actual government officials talking about any topic—but the videos are fabricated. Made-up video clips may feature official logos, state and county seals, and announcements peppered with legalese or government jargon. With some of these videos, a reasonable person wouldn’t know that the content is artificial.

The real estate industry group took the matter to YouTube (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet). YouTube has been able to ban at least one source of the clips. The company told Realtor.com® it removed a channel for spam and deceptive content violations. The trouble is, once the offending clips are published, they’ve been copied many times and have spread like invasive plants.

The Scam That Keeps on Scamming: Spreading Across the Map

County offices in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states are also dealing with a wave of calls and questions. Many state and county offices have issued public advisory bulletins.

An official in Franklin County, Ohio, says deed holders are seeing online clips about the federal law, believing the announcements and the law are real, and becoming frustrated when they find out they aren’t.

Wisconsin state tax officials are warning residents about the online clips that talk up the federal property tax relief law that never happened. Like old-time phone-based practical jokes, the videos urge people to call their counties and ask for a Senior Homeowner Tax Review, or to order IRS Form 1098-SR. Neither the review nor the form exists.

The AI-generated video is really a ruse, meant to fool older deed holders into giving their bank account credentials and Social Security numbers to the scam’s authors. It’s also used to get them to pay bogus filing fees.

Meanwhile, back in Colorado, the timing of the scam made the confusion acute. The videos spread through people’s phones and desk computers just as the state’s deadline to claim important senior property tax relief is imminent. State officials fear that seniors who should be signing up for the first time may fail to apply for the real relief—because they heard the viral video announcements were false.

Boomers Are Being Targeted, and It Touches a Nerve

It’s unclear where people might have lost money because of the property tax relief videos, or because of scams that piggyback on the series. What’s all too clear is how the videos are touching a nerve with older adults.

One of these videos goes into an elaborate explanation of what relief older deed holders could get, depending on whether they were born in the 1940s, 50s, or 60s. Each age group gets distinct sets of tax freezes, caps, and exemptions.

Seniors have built up a lot of home equity, and it’s all being assessed by local governments for revenue. That’s already a big concern for older deed holders. Property tax bills have grown much bigger than they were just a few years ago. And it’s the modest earners who are seeing this part of their household budget rise the most.

On top of all this, older adults are disproportionately exploited by AI scams. About 14% of a year’s worth of AI scam complaints received by the FBI come from people aged 60+. That relatively small group of targets lost a large portion of the money that the scammers took: $357 million out of $893 million.  

Don’t leave money on the table. Check and be sure you’ve applied for the homestead exemption, if offered in your state.

How to Avoid Being Outsmarted by AI

Deed holders, especially seniors, take note. Be on the lookout for disinformation. Please take the following precautions:

• Don’t act on or share any video announcement before you have verified it. A video may appear both convincing and urgent. That doesn’t make it real. Initiate an online search for the title or subject, and try using the term “scam” together with it. Check for any news about it.

• Do not share personal identifying information in response to an online video.

• Run your cursor over links. See if they look odd or contain typos. Initiate your own search for the contact information of an official agency, rather than using the links in a video or its description.

Many of these recommendations come from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, which is dealing with the property tax relief scam as we write.

Don’t Be Fooled (But If You Are, Say Something)

If you have questions about real property tax relief and what’s available to you, contact your local revenue department directly. Local and state governments administer property taxes.

The federal government does not oversee property taxes. So, Congress has not legislated property tax relief. Share this with those you know. People who believe false benefits exist are then vulnerable to any scam that further manipulates them by extracting their money or sensitive information. 

If you or someone you know has been fooled by a scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission and your state attorney general’s office or consumer protection division.