April 1 (UPI) — U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials in Massachusetts are warning the public about a “steady” uptick in fraud relating to quit claim deeds in the New England region.
“Folks across the region are having their roots literally pulled out from under them and are being left with no place to call home,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said in a release on Tuesday.
Cohen said people are “suffering deeply personal losses” that have inflicted “a significant financial and emotional toll, including shock, anger and even embarrassment.”
The scheme, known as quit claim deed fraud or home title theft, typically involves forged documents to record a phony transfer of property ownership.
According to FBI officials, criminals will then seek to sell either the stolen vacant land or home, take out a mortgage or even rent it to turn a profit, forcing the real owners to head to court to reclaim their property.
Real estate fraud victims reported losses to the tune of $1.3 billion nationwide from 2019 to 2023.
In 2008, a parishioner at a Brooklyn church used a deed scam to sell the Free Mission Action Movement Church, which sat on four adjacent lots on New York City’s Sutter Avenue, in order to allegedly sell to a developer in a $1 million scam deal.
FBI officials called the scammers “title pirates,” who seek multiple routes, including combing through public records to find vacant parcels of land or property without a mortgage or lien in order to convey title to a property.
The FBI says that even family members sometimes will target their own elderly relatives or close associates. And it’s been reported that many scammers will ask a real estate agent to list a property while impersonating the owner, while the real owner may not find out until after the sale has been finalized.
The FBI pointed out it does not keep specific data solely on quit claim deed fraud, but it does fall into the category of “real estate crime.”
“We are urging the public to heed this warning and to take proactive steps to avoid losing your property,” Cohen continued. “Anyone who is a victim of this type of fraud should report it to us.”
In the FBI’s Boston Division — which includes Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island — more than 2,300 American citizens from 2019-2023 fell victim to the scams with losses totaling nearly $62 million.
However, authorities noted that figure is likely much higher with unreported crimes due to factors such as embarrassment.
Norfolk County’s Register of Deeds in the Bay State was forced in 2018 to advise its residents about a fraudulent direct-mail solicitation that offered homeowners a certified copy of their property’s deed for a $60 fee or more for a copy that ordinarily would cost about $3.
In Massachusetts, 1,576 victims lost the highest amount of money, totaling more than $46 million, followed by Maine’s 262 real estate fraud victims who lost more than $6.2 million.
New Hampshire came in the middle with its 239 victims and fraudsters stealing over $4 million vs. Rhode Island’s 224 victims losing the least amount in the New England region at nearly $4.9 million lost.
But the only true protection against title theft, according to a southern California-based real estate fraud lawyer, is to get a specific type of policy through any major insurer known as a Homeowner’s Policy of Title Insurance.
“Twenty-five years ago, it wasn’t easy to forge documents,” attorney David Fleck said last March.
“Now, literally every computer has the technology to create a believable forgery, and you can buy a fake notary stamp online,” he said.
Fleck warned that technology has “very quickly gotten ahead of the systems we have in place to prevent this.”
FBI security experts, meanwhile, suggest property owners be proactive by taking steps such as setting up online search alerts for their property, periodically checking on it, avoid people using encrypted messaging apps and “take action” if a water, utility or property tax bill stops appearing.
