(Part II) Con Artist Reveals Mortage Frauds : “Stealing your House”
Brent Barber, the subject con artist in Part I revealed his second mortage fraud of stealing your home.
He would steal a home and borrow money against it. The owner won’t know about it until the mortgage lender of Barker forecloses his home.
Here is how he steals the houses:
1) Find a neighborhood where most of the residents are elderly, retired and have paid off their homes.
2) Equipped with a blank real estate deed, he would forge the homeowner’s signature.
3) He would organize the issuance of the deed of the house to himself by:
3.1 Buy a $25 notary stamp at an office supply store.
3.2 File the fake deed at the county recorder’s office for $21.
4) With the new title under Barker’s name, he could take out the mortgage against it.
Barber’s recommendations to avoid this scam:
a) Title companies should call lenders to verify paid-off loans.
b) Title companies should require that the buyers to file the deeds themselves and ask for a proper identification.
Mark Monacelli, President of the Property Records Industry Association admitted that the system has always been vulnerable.
Things that had been done to minimize this type of fraud:
a) Monacelli’s organization has recently formed a group to find ways to help county recorders prevent fraud.
b) Los Angeles and Philadelphia now alert property owners by mail when significant documents are filed against their property.
My advise:
This type of fraud make’s the homeowner very vulnerable and helpless. It is an organized fraud done behind the homeowner’s back. The solution is in the hands of the county. There should be safety precautions and verifications before a title’s name is transferred to a supposedly buyer’s name. An example is the mail alert to owners; practiced in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
To read more about this article, go to usatoday.com
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POSTED IN: Breaking News, Real Estate Scams, Real Life Stories
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