What is Mortgage Title Fraud?

Mortgage Title Fraud is when the title or legal ownership is taken fraudulently from an individual. In almost all cases, this is done without your knowledge or consent. The thief will forge a blank deed with your legal property information to claim ownership of the homeowner’s mortgage title or pose as the owner; the thief might then take out a loan or mortgage against your home. The action of stealing property rights has several names: Home title fraud, deed theft, and property title theft. All these names referred to the action of stealing property rights.

In most cases, criminals will typically target vulnerable homes, usually when a homeowner is almost deceased or elderly. Vacation properties and second-home residents are common targets as well. Because the suspicious activity is caught much later until it’s too late, home title theft can result in your home being sold by a criminal, which is usually the worst-case scenario. Criminals can use stolen titles to carry out other crimes, such as home equity theft which involves operating new credit lines under your home as collateral, leaving the homeowner with unpaid debt.

How does Mortgage Title Fraud happen? (ways criminals use to obtain personal information to create a phony deed)

There are several ways this can happen. The most common way a criminal steals a homeowner’s identity is by forging a phony deed to transfer the ownership to themselves or an associate of them. Usually, scammers will create fake identities using social security numbers and other information used to create a fake identity. Sometimes, criminals will even purchase personal information from data brokers; these companies are legally allowed to collect personal information and sell it to third parties. In addition, cybercriminals can unlawfully take the lead from data breaches that have been exposed or breached.

Phishing is when cybercriminals send you an email or text that looks legitimate but is NOT. These emails can look like they are coming from a genuine company like Microsoft or Facebook; however, they are fake. The link the cybercriminals try and get you to click on is an infected link with malware infection used to obtain personal information from that computer or device. According to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), Amazon is now one of the primary platforms for Phishing scammers. This is a big deal considering most people in the U.S. have used or currently use Amazon to order products. Unauthorized purchases, fake prizes, and phony emails had increased by 500% in the last year alone.

Suppose your computer or device is infected (clicking on a phony email). In that case, this could happen: Once on your computer, the malware will access any sensitive information on the device. Spyware is malware that lurks around your computer or device until it obtains personal information. Such as passwords or any sensitive information saved or on the device.

Is Mortgage Title Fraud a big issue?

Home title theft is certainly not as significant as identity theft alone, although it is a problem we have seen growing for the past decade. They are leaving many people thousands of dollars in debt. Victims also have to pay for the legal cost to get their home titles back, which is a lump of money.

How can somebody steal a Mortgage Title?

Mortgage title theft is actual, and if you own a house with a title, criminals can forge a copy of your slip and sell your home without you even knowing. Mortgage Title Fraud, which occurs everywhere in the United States. However, there are ways to look out for Title Fraud and buy insurance to protect against such theft. Many people aren’t aware of Title Fraud, and it can be beneficial to understand what to do if you are in this situation. Many ads will offer their insurance to monitor and detect Mortgage title theft. Typically, They will contribute $2,000,000 in coverage for $80 a year. However, that company is more than likely not to pay out a cent of insurance.

In most cases, the reported claims are complicated, or these companies will ignore the law. It’s a fact that anyone can forge their name on any document, including a deed. First, it’s essential to understand that a Forged deed does not initially convey any value. Only the person that truly has the title can transfer it. If a buyer or lender doesn’t do enough research about that title, they are the ones that could be affected and out of luck. The party that tries to buy the house from the thief is the party who will lose out on money trying to purchase the property from a thief which a fake title. In theory, a forger could quickly obtain a blank deed form that they downloaded from the internet.

Then, they could fill in your property’s legal descriptions. However, a signature must be certified by a Notary Public, required by law to make you sign the deed. Last, it’s nearly impossible for a thief to successfully transfer or sell an act to a knowledgeable lender or buyer. Because of this, many Lenders, title companies, and real estate firms have safeguards to discover these forged deeds. The required information, such as credit reports, employment, income verifications, back tax returns, title insurance, and appraisals, will alert you if there is any detection of a forged title deed.

How does Mortgage Title Fraud play into buying a house with just Cash?

Even with a cash buyer, the thief’s chances are still small. Only naive buyers will end up failing to buy title insurance. Title insurance will protect against any errors or defects in the title, including liens, fraud, and forgery. The insurance will alert you for any blemishes before closing on the property. If the title company somehow misses the defect, the title company will be responsible for any damages.

No legitimate attorney or real estate firm will allow the purchase of a property without this insurance. The possibility of being tricked is there. However, they are at risk of losing their money, not you. Forgery is a felony in all fifty states, punishable by jail time or expensive costs caused by the forgery, such as the costs of clearing the title. Title fraud is not super widespread because of all these risks. In the unlikely event that someone commits title theft, the cost of clearing the title will be a risk to the homeowner, which will require assistance from an attorney.

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