“Twenty-five years ago, it wasn’t easy to forge documents. Now, literally every computer has the technology to create a believable forgery, and you can buy a fake notary stamp online,” California-based real estate fraud attorney David Fleck said in a 2024 interview with Realtor.com. “So the technology has very quickly gotten ahead of the systems we have in place to prevent this.”
Fleck, who has handled numerous home title theft cases both in private practice and during his time as a prosecutor in Los Angeles, warns that the consequences can be devastating. In one instance, he witnessed an elderly homeowner evicted from her residence of 25 years after scammers forged foreclosure documents and wiped out her equity.
While there are no comprehensive national statistics tracking title fraud, the FBI’s 2023 Internet Crime Report recorded 9,521 complaints of cyber-related real estate and rental fraud, with losses totaling over $145 million.
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