How An Identity Thief Can Get Your Home Or Condo

     Let us talk a little more about identity fraud. I want to focus on the home or apartment (condo) that you own. Please bear in mind that the people who do these types of crimes are devilishly clever. Never underestimate them! They often live in countries like Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Nigeria, For all intents and purposes, they are immune from arrest and prosecution. Any money that they get will not be recovered.

    In scenario one, the identity thief gets your Social Security number and date of birth. They research you on some services like Instantcheckmate, Been Verified, etc. They find out where you live. They get the names of family members and other details of your life. They then go to a real estate service like Zillow or Redfin. They find out what your property is worth. They get some realtor to do a title search. They find out any mortgages that you have on the property.

       They go to an online mortgage service like Rocket Mortgage. They apply for a large loan. It is all impersonal and online. The loan gets approved. The lender sends out a mobile notary with all the loan papers to an agreed meeting place. The identity thief has "a local helper" in place with a convincing false driver's license and other ID documents. The loan is signed off and signatures notarized. The documents go to a title company. They are recorded. A title insurance policy is given to the lender in the event of fraud. Our identity thief is hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of dollars richer.

     Scenario two is cleverer. The identity thief does all the steps in Scenario one. In this case if the house or apartment is paid off. They generate a quick claim deed and record it at the local courthouse in the name of some "local helper" with decent credit. This person applies for a huge loan of up to millions of dollars. It gets approved. This "local helper." goes to the title company and signs all the loan papers. They are duly recorded. An identity thief is now a rich man or woman.

       If you are monitoring your credit each month, you will detect this. If you are not monitoring your credit, the local sheriff will show up to sell your house in foreclosure when the loan defaults.

     Elena is sure that the safeguards in place prevent these from happening. They do not! One can also take comfort in the title insurance policy issued by the title company. Surely, once the fraud is reported they will pay up quickly.

      This is wishful thinking. You are in for a protracted legal battle that could take years and cost tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Therefore identity theft insurance coverage is a vital tool to have. The premiums are not outrageous.

       Do not take comfort that law enforcement agencies will come to your aid. Recently a San Francisco non-profit was defrauded of $600,000 in an email scam. Local, state, and Federal law enforcement agencies declined to investigate the case. The director of the nonprofit did deep research and found the thief. She did not recover her money.