What happens if someone sells your property in America without your knowledge? It’s a lot more complicated than you might think

If you own a home or property, you need to know how this scam works and what you can do to protect your real estate from dishonest actors.

Property theft is a genuine risk

Home or land theft can technically happen with any property, but it's more common with vacant real estate. Vacation houses, inherited properties, and homes people have moved out of to move into nursing homes are common targets.

Scammers can target these properties in a few ways. Usually, the process starts with finding out who owns a property using online information and creating fake IDS so they can pretend to be the true owner. Next, they'll either:

• Transfer the property to themselves and then sell it and pocket the cash, or get a cash-out refinance mortgage on it, pocket the money, and never make a payment
• Find a buyer and sell the property directly to them, often in a quick sale.

When this happens, innocent buyers typically pay the scammer, the documents with the forged IDs are submitted to authorities, and the county will officially transfer ownership to the "buyer," who becomes the new legal owner in the eyes of the law. This leaves the rightful owner without the title and deed to the house and forced to go to court to try and get their property back.

Sadly, as the Internet has made it easier to find property owners and forge documents, rates of home theft are on the rise. While the FBI doesn't have a separate category specifically for this offense, the agency's 2023 Internet Crime Report shows there were 9,521 fraud complaints related to real estate totaling over $145.2 million in annual losses.

Also, the New York Post reported recently on the growing number of title fraud claims, including a recent Detroit case involving a scammer who stole more than 30 homes.

How to protect against property fraud

Preventing property fraud is critical because once your property has been sold to a third party, you will no longer be the legal owner and it can take a long time and a lot of money to go to court to get it back.

Fortunately, there are ways you can reduce the risk. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself:

• Sign up for alerts if there are any changes to your deed. A growing number of counties offer this service. For example, Osceola County in Florida allows you to sign up to receive alerts if there is any potentially fraudulent activity on your property.
• Purchase insurance. Some insurers offer a Homeowner’s Policy of Title Insurance that covers you in cases of home title theft after you're the owner. This is different from traditional title insurance you buy when you're purchasing a new home that protects against past claims.
• Read all correspondence related to your property. Arrange to have all mail from your vacant property or land forwarded to your primary home, so you receive it in a timely manner. Open any correspondence that comes immediately.

There are also paid services you can sign up for that claim to help protect your home's title. However, if you follow these best practices and monitor your deed regularly, you often don't need to pay an ongoing fee for them. In fact, Consumers Checkbook warns that they often provide misleading ads to try to get you to sign up for their services.

Instead, keep regular tabs on your home, be cautious about providing too much personal information or details about your property online, and follow general best practices for avoiding identity theft. If you do these things, your risk should remain relatively low.