Q&A of the Day – Home Title Theft in South Florida
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio This looks like the type of crime we hear about in the home title theft ads. If rings are operating in Florida, what should we be doing?
Bottom Line: The “this” referenced to in today’s note was a link to a story entitled 10 people removed from Fort Lauderdale home stolen through title fraud. The story details how a total of 14 properties in Broward had their titles stolen by a crime ring over the past couple of years. In the most sensational example, a luxury home in Fort Lauderdale was “stolen”, with ten squatters living in the house – including criminals who broke into neighboring houses - for about a year. The house was largely destroyed in the process. It’s no doubt just about the worst-case scenario which could occur for a homeowner and that is depicted in some of the ads you might hear for services aimed at protecting you. Quoting an investigator from the Broward County Property Appraiser's office who was involved in the removal process of the squatters... They know the system, They know how to stay there until the courts throw them out. And as for how they gamed the system and successfully stole the title to the houses – which they squatted in and rented out until they were busted and removed...
The ring created a bogus “executor of the estate”, who signed the titles to the properties over to the thieves. From there the real owners must go through a legal process to attempt to restore the property’s title to the rightful owners. However, until that’s played out in the legal system – there's nothing law enforcement can do to evict the squatters and restore the properties to the rightful owners. In total, Broward County’s property appraiser said their investigations over the past year have uncovered about 185 similar cases within the county. That’s a total that’s a very small percentage of the properties in the county but that has obviously claimed a number of victims. And if there’s been an active ring in Broward, there’s no doubt the threat exists throughout the Palm Beaches as well. So, in addressing your question about what we should be doing?
The first thing you can and probably should be doing every so often is looking up your property on the property appraiser’s website. Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks has made the process of looking up properties so easy – that it now takes me fewer than ten seconds to identify my properties. You’ll likely find it just as easy for yours as well. If your property is in your name, everything’s fine. If it’s not – you've got issues.
In March of 2008, the FBI produced a report entitled: House Stealing – The Latest Scam on the Block. In the report they identified how the scam works and what homeowners should be aware of to avoid being victimized. According to the FBI, the process works like this:
Step 1: Con artists pick a house
Step 2: They assume the identity of the homeowner
Step 3: They transfer the deed of the house into their name
To successfully carry out the theft someone must first steal one’s identity (or in the case of the creative criminals in Broward – invent an identity). They then must create false photo IDs with the victim’s information and have legal documents prepared and notarized indicating the transfer of the property or desire to borrow against the property. Those who carry out these crimes successfully are sophisticated criminals. The timing of the FBI discovering this in 2008, at the end of the housing boom, was no coincidence. Many of the criminals who engaged in mortgage and related fraud transitioned to this form of fraud once mortgage companies began to clamp down on the types of loans they’d issue.
While any property has the potential to be targeted by scam artists, those most often targeted are second/vacation homes and rentals and thus that are easy to occupy while the owners are away. Targeting a vacant home also reduces the chance of owners receiving correspondence regarding the fraud until after it's been carried out. The most recent FBI statistics on home title theft are from 2021. In 2021 the FBI identified a total of 11,578 properties subjected to home title theft. That’s obviously a small number in the context of over 80 million homes owned in the United States, however it’s about as bad as it gets if you’re one of those victims. What’s also notable is that approximately 2% of all home title thefts over the last year evidently happened in Broward. South Florida has long led the country in scams and scammers. The demographics of our area often attract the bad actors who attempt to prey on people. With an abundance of part-time homes and rentals in South Florida, that also lends itself towards those who seek to carry out these types of crimes.
I’ve always recommended identify theft protection and a good ID theft service will monitor public records online – notifying you if there are any changes, or attempted changes with properties in your name. In addition to looking up your property every so often online – that's something you could consider doing if you’re concerned about this happening to you.
Here’s a little extra food for thought about those most at risk:
- Those who have been victims of ID theft
- Owners of multiple properties
- Properties of those recently deceased
*Credit to listener - Wayne. In Florida, there's a free monitoring service offered at the county level. That makes sense to take advantage of, even if you use an identity theft service.
So, there you go. And the more you know...