Thursday, March 27, 2008

LA FBI Comments On The Latest Scam

What do you get when you combine two popular rackets these days—identity theft and mortgage fraud? A totally new kind of crime: house stealing. Here’s how it generally works:

… The con artists start by picking out a house to steal—say, YOURS. 

… Next, they assume your identity—getting a hold of your name and personal information (easy enough to do off the Internet) and using that to create fake IDs, social security cards, etc. 

… Then, they go to an office supply store and purchase forms that transfer property. 

… After forging your signature and using the fake IDs, they file these deeds with the proper authorities, and lo and behold, your house is now THEIRS.

There are some variations on this theme:

… Con artists look for a vacant house—say, a vacation home or rental property—and do a little research to find out who owns it. Then, they steal the owner’s identity, go through the same process of transferring the deed, put the empty house on the market, and pocket the profits. 

… Or, the fraudsters steal a house a family is still living in…find a buyer (someone, say, who is satisfied with a few online photos)…and sell the house without the family even knowing. In fact, the rightful owners continue right on paying the mortgage for a house they no longer own. 

It can get even more complicated than this, as we learned in a recent case out of Los Angeles that we investigated with the IRS. Last year, a real estate business owner in southeast Los Angeles pled guilty to leading a scam that defrauded more than 100 homeowners and lenders out of some $12 million. She promised to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages by refinancing their loans. Instead, she and her partners in crime used stolen identities or straw buyers to purchase these homes. They then pocketed the money they borrowed but never made any mortgage payments. In the process, the true owners lost the title to their homes and the banks were out the money they had loaned to fake buyers.

So how can prevent your house from getting stolen? Not easily, we’re sorry to say. The best you can do at this point is to stay vigilant. A few suggestions:

- If you receive a payment book or information from a mortgage company that’s not yours, whether your name is on the envelope or not, don’t just throw it away. Open it, figure out what it says, and follow up with the company that sent it.

- From time to time, it’s also a good idea to check all information pertaining to your house through your county’s deeds office. If you see any paperwork you don’t recognize or any signature that is not yours, look into it. 

House-stealing is not too common at this point, but we’re keeping an eye out for any major cases or developing trends. Please contact us or your local police if you think you’ve been victimized.

mortgage fraud

1. What about the VICTOMS? What happens to them, they lose.No one believes them, they do not have the money to fit and they lose everything. I’m in a case like this. Consummers fraud tells you to get a lawyer, because the scam arts is a private, not a corp. The distect attorney investergater claims it’s legal. legal aid can only stop your eviction.You get broken in to and the police say its a civil matter.
   Lawyers want money you do not have. If your can get a lawyer their to young to know what their doing and make missakes with court procedures that you end up losing or you have to start over again. Police will not touch it because you reported it to the distect attorney, state troppers the same thing. It takes you months the get all the information.  You get hand writing expserts that say you did not sign the documents. Some of your signuters are misspelt, or parilar.  A state investergater states in a letter that you where defrauded.The so call nottery desappaers. A copy of a drivers liance is used.a copy of a death certifcate is used, not theone with the state seal. no power of attorny. A title company ecepts these documents and aproves it. a lenders lawyer claims he checked the documents to the divers liance and it looked like it was O’Kaye. Their was no power of attorney there either. after going throught one eviction throw legal aid not cashing the checks from the lawyer or the bank, you find a lawyer. He takes the checks and puts it in his trust account, the back of the checks said in trust account. The lawyer said it was legal, what do common people know. This lawyer starts a law sue, and stops the second eviction. After two years of blazers you get a default on the scam arts. In the mean time the mortgage company is trying to foreclose on the scam arts. Your lawyer quites on you because of a death in his family, and he could not get the court to postphone the case for a second time in a row, because he could not make it back, in time. The court had to find time. The next court date he comes with me and girlfriend to court. My lawyer tried to make a deal with the title company in faver of them. He told me about it in an email, I told him to stop. He sent out a summons to the to the finance company after 120 days but will not prove it was severed, to the finance company. the finance company called him and he gave them a STIPULATION OF DISCONTINANCE. with out my promission. Quite in a email the same day. I went to court, court was cancelled. I found out why. I received a copy of that document, by the court clerk.I was in shark. It took me a few days to email my lawyer because for weeks he would not answer by phone before this document. he emailed me a few times, thank god, because I stoped him from making a bad deal with the title company. I wrote to the judge. Since when dose lawyers make a decion for a judge? I’m weightong for an answer from her. I sent my lawyer an email and told him, what I did. He emailed me and said I have a court date on april 21, 2008 with the tilte company, because I must of frightened him. I would have lost that by default. In the mean time I don’t know if the other court gave the finance company promision to foreclose and action off the house. No one can tell me. My exlawyer never answered the default for the forecloser, that court is weighting for an anwer from the other court. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE VICTOMS WITH OUT ANY HELP?

   Posted by  on  04/02  at  01:15 AM

2. Oh my GOD! A house can also be stolen? i heard this first time. This is very valuable information, I will definitely take care all the points you have mentioned below. Thanks

   Posted by  on  04/07  at  09:45 PM

3. Wouldn’t title insurance largely cover the buyer victims?

   Seems like with most types of identity theft, you can fix it all, but it’ll be a huge pain.  While real estate lawyers aren’t necessary in many transactions, having one in these situations could help people avoid trouble...certainly if you’ve been the victim of this type of “mortgage fraud.”

   Posted by  on  05/22  at  08:57 AM

4. I read Hendra’s story, and she is right, but...the bottom line is to never get in that position to start with...watch your credit history like a hawk, shred all mail, do NOT deal with scam artists and loan brokers who send out mass mailings (it is far TOO easy to get a broker’s license and it takes little education and they are a dime a dozen) and check with an attorney before signing anything...most real estate attorneys have only a nominal fee for review of documents, sometimes zero...if you made a foolish choice and signed something without going to a lawyer, then afterwards, at least, READ YOUR MAIL...if all else fails and you are scammed, get a REAL PROPERTY ATTORNEY, not just any attorney, as this is a specialized field and most attorneys do not have the expertise to handle this litigation.

   Posted by  on  06/18  at  12:29 PM

5. I thought I had heard of all the scams out there, but this really surprised me. I had no idea people could actually do this. It will really make me be vigilant in the future. I am going to shred everything that people could use to steal my ID. How easy is it for them to steal your ID online?

   Posted by  on  08/13  at  01:35 AM

6. Oh my god house stealing well thats a new one on me. This has been one of the best blogs I have read in ages

   Posted by  on  08/20  at  02:57 AM

7. Oh my god house stealing well thats a new one on me. This has been one of the best blogs I have read in ages.

   Posted by  on  08/20  at  03:02 AM

8. The crooks certainly seem to be coming up with bigger and better ways to con people these days!

   ~Alfred
   

   Posted by  on  09/08  at  07:55 AM

9. I’ve never heard of house stealing before. This is serious! I guess it is more risky of with the vacation homes than the homes that actually people live in. But anyway this is serious issue here! First you have to go through the process with stolen ID and than deal with your mortgage payments.

   Posted by  on  09/18  at  05:11 AM

10. Useful article.Its a good information for every one who reads. Your suggestions are to be noted,its really good .Thanks for sharing.

    Posted by  on  09/19  at  04:20 AM