How Does Real Estate Title or Mortgage Fraud Occur?
Real estate title or mortgage frauds take several forms, but a common denominator is that the fraudsters are sophisticated and thanks to modern technology, are armed with the appropriate documentation and necessary knowledge of the real estate process to enable them to perpetrate these major crimes. The Basics… Legal ownership in property is evidenced by the title to the property being placed into the purchaser’s name. The purchaser obtains title when the vendor of the property signs transfer documents (a deed) transferring the ownership of the property to him/her. Once this occurs, the government land registration records will reflect the purchaser as the new owner and anyone searching those records will also recognize him/her as the owner. A Typical Example… • A fraud artist obtains title to a property via a fraudulent transfer document (a deed). • The fraud artist goes to a bank and obtains a mortgage that is then registered against the property. • When the fraud artist does not
