Don’t Get Scammed Over the Holidays – Use Common Sense to Protect Against Losing Your Home!
You may have heard on the news or read in the paper recently of a rise in deed fraud. Deed fraud occurs when someone fraudulently transfers ownership of someone else’s real property into the fraudster’s name without the owner’s consent. In a recent Dayton Daily News article, the Montgomery County recorder estimated that what used to be one or two complaint per month has increased to two to three complaints per week.
An ownership transfer occurs when a deed is signed by the owner, notarized by a notary and recorded. A fraudster can easily obtain the necessary information to prepare a deed, forge the owner’s signature and get a negligent or complicit notary to notarize the signature. This is the most common form of deed fraud. The second form is when the crook deceives the owner and convinces him or her to sign a deed by promising to pay overdue property taxes or refinance a mortgage.
If the property ownership is stolen, it can result in an unauthorized sale by the crook. It can also result in the crook taking out a … Read More... “LEGAL ALERT – Beware of Deed fraud!”