{"id":5984,"date":"2024-09-13T08:31:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T12:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=5984"},"modified":"2024-09-13T08:31:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T12:31:34","slug":"selling-a-home-but-not-your-own-the-dramatic-rise-of-seller-impersonation-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/selling-a-home-but-not-your-own-the-dramatic-rise-of-seller-impersonation-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Selling a Home, But Not Your Own: The Dramatic Rise of Seller Impersonation Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The American Land Title Association surveyed hundreds of title companies \u2014 783, to be precise \u2014  and found seller impersonation fraud rising year over year. More than 20% of the firms reported recent instances of this bizarre activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crafting elaborate hoaxes, these con artists pretend to be ordinary real estate owners. They are masters of stealing real deed holders\u2019 personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forewarned is forearmed, so ALTA\u2019s survey caught our attention. Here, we run through some questions a deed holder might have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Actually Is Seller Impersonation Fraud?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Seller impersonators go through public records looking for property. The perfect targets? Vacant land without loans or other liens. Homes belonging to older people, who have paid off their mortgages and may have moved, whether to live with their loved ones or in assisted-living settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After pinpointing real estate they think they can manipulate, seller impersonators sift through the public records for details about the actual owner. Then, they pretend to be that person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impersonating the owner involves putting together an online persona, and creating fake IDs meant to pass for the owner\u2019s. Seller impersonators hire real estate agents from afar. Or they get stand-ins to show up locally \u2014 especially when it\u2019s time to collect the funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when it\u2019s time for signing documents, seller impersonators abuse notarization. They\u2019re experts at faking notary credentials, or misusing someone\u2019s real notary credentials. Their scam includes forgery, as it involves faking the notary\u2019s and owner\u2019s signatures. The deed, the closing documents, a loan agreement \u2014 all can bear manufactured signatures and false affirmations. All are submitted by the con artist to the closing attorney or title firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some impersonators convey the deed to their businesses \u2014 companies they\u2019ve set up just for this purpose. And of course the culmination of the whole, complicated drama is to get the money out of a duped buyer. They close the deal and receive the purchaser\u2019s wired funds. They sell thin air. And then they repeat the trick with the next unsuspecting soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After everything is said and done, it could take months until the real owners or their relatives find out something\u2019s wrong. Undoing this type of illegitimate real estate sale is very hard. It\u2019s essential to prevent a deal like this from going through in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Buyer, How Can I Avoid Scam Sellers?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Awareness is key. If you\u2019re looking for real estate, be careful with low-priced listings. Look for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n