Home Title Fraud, sometimes referred to as Home Title Theft or my preferred term, Deed Theft, is something you may have heard of in tv and radio ads. Some including myself have been skeptical over the years feeling that this might be blown out of proportion in order to increase sales for Home Title Fraud protection services, but if one conducts some research, they’ll find that at least to a degree, it’s a real problem. The basic scheme works like this. A bad actor researches deeds through online county records. They then forge transfer documents which they record at the county courthouse. If that’s successful, the criminal then has a few options. They can try to sell the property or try to rent the property to a victim / tenant.
That’s a simple explanation. Obviously, it can be a little more complicated than this given that in most cases, the true owners may still be living in the home. However, it’s a legitimate problem in that the true owner probably won’t realize when the bad actor records the phony transfer documents with the county, and most counties probably don’t have systems in place to verify these transfers are indeed legal. Thousands of deeds are recorded at county courthouses nationwide every day and most are legit.
From an article which appeared on Realtor.com in March of this year, here’s a case of an egregious case in Detroit. Zina Thomas, who was 60 at the time the article was written, served as the director of the United Community Housing Coalition. According to federal prosecutors, she stole 30 homes in the metro area by forging Quitclaim Deeds which transferred the properties in question to fake parties. Then, she sold the properties to unsuspecting third-party victims.
Quitclaim Deeds are simple and do not make guarantees pertaining to a property. These are often used between family members…something I’ve seen a good bit in rural WV. The flip side is that this type of deed is easier for fraudsters to manipulate. Of course, sophisticated fraudsters can forge other types of deeds as well. This might bring up thoughts of Frank Abagnale who was portrayed in the movie, “Catch Me If You Can”. In real life in recent years, Mr. Abagnale talks of how much easier fraud is to commit these days with technology at a criminal’s disposal, compared to his years of crime decades ago.
Just recently, I wrote about George McCleary of Portland, OR. He’s a Real Estate developer who discusses title fraud as well as squatting on his social media platforms. If you’d like to learn more about either subject, I’d encourage you to watch his videos. Read the article on Realtor.com and other sources online and then you’ll be better prepared to consider Home Title Fraud protection services. It may cost you a little bit, but I’d strongly encourage you to seek legal counsel from a good local, Real Estate attorney. Any good local Realtor can refer you to a trusted local attorney.