Fraudulent scams involving sellers pretending to be sellers are on the rise. A study by New Democratic Party Analysis The study found that 28% of title companies experienced at least one seller impersonation fraud attempt in 2023, and 19% experienced at least one such attempt in April 2024 alone.
The study, released Monday, is based on a survey of 783 title companies across the country. Research shows that only 16% of companies that experienced seller impersonation fraud attempts in 2023 paid claims.
While seller impersonation fraud appears to be common, 46% of respondents said it was at least “somewhat common” to detect fraud attempts before the sale was completed, while 26% said it was more common to detect fraud after the sale was completed. .
The most common feature of fake seller fraud is notarization issues. 43% of the respondents pointed out that false notarization certificates appeared in the fraud of fake sellers, and 31% of the respondents said that the fraudsters tried to sell goods without permission. In case of use of authentic notary certificate.
Real estate and title professionals should pay close attention to vacant land transactions, all-cash transactions and transactions in which the seller requires the use of an unknown notary, the report said. More than 80% of survey respondents considered all-cash transactions and requests for mailed signatures to be “somewhat common” red flags.
The good news, however, is that 91% of title companies surveyed provide or plan to provide education and resources to train employees to protect against fraud. According to reports, 69% of surveyed companies leveraged American Land Title Association (Alta).
