FBI: The New Crime On The Block - House Stealing
March 26, LawFuel – (National)

There is a new kind of crime: house stealing. Here is how it generally works: the con artists start by picking out a house to steal; next, they assume the owner’s identity – getting a hold of their name and personal information (often using 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 the owner’s signature and using the fake IDs, they file these deeds with the proper authorities, and the house is now theirs. There are some variations on this theme. Con artists look for a vacant house
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 in a recent case in Los Angeles. 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 associates used stolen identities or “straw buyers” (people who are paid for the illegal use of their personal information) to purchase these homes. They then kept 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 lost the money they had loaned to fake buyers.

Source: Scoop: FBI: The New Crime On The Block - House Stealing