property fraud Archives

February 1, 2024April 25, 2024

Blockchain for Real Estate: It’s Coming.

If you’ve ever bought a house, condo, or co-op, you’ll know it’s a major process. Many joyful buys took a good deal of trudging through weeks of stressful communication challenges. The journey was loaded with people, paperwork, and fees. Why do we put ourselves through it? Because getting into the market is a key wealth-building method.

But could there be a better way?

Tokenization seems ready-made to simplify real estate deals. To say an asset is tokenized means it’s represented by a token on a blockchain.

December 11, 2023April 25, 2024

Texas Warranty Deed Forgery Plot Thickens

More Houston-area deed fraud victims are speaking out. The alleged perpetrator has already been charged with a first-degree felony of forgery, fraudulent document execution, and theft greater than $300,000, in connection with warranty deeds worth some $15 million.

He would forge property owners’ signatures. Then he’d go buy their properties at a deep discount. Investigators say he tried to steal his own dad’s house. Yep.

He was arrested, let go on his personal recognizance, and told to reappear at his arraignment. He was a no-show. And that means Timothy W. is a wanted man again. What’s more, additional people have since stepped up, saying they believe the same person tried to take their homes away, too.

January 20, 2023April 25, 2024

Heirs, Protect the Seniors in Your Life From Deed Theft

A 91-year-old Floridian recently sent a payment to his insurer. Then the agent called to say the company wouldn’t be able to renew the homeowner’s policy. The deed had been transferred. The home was now legally owned by another person.

Some days later, from his bedroom, this shocked and disoriented senior heard three people come into the home. It seems the perpetrator was trying to sell the house. Fort Lauderdale police are investigating.

The swindled senior paid off the mortgage 15 years ago. Maybe that’s part of the issue. If there were a mortgage lien on the home, the mortgage company would have been alerted to the transfer. Plenty of elders live in homes with paid-off mortgages in Florida, and plenty of fraudulent schemes are targeting their increasingly valuable homes.