ePropertyWatch Pro's Blog

"According to the affidavit filed with the complaint, Norris ran a mail fraud scheme that involved filing fraudulent warranty deeds with the Tarrant County Clerk’s office to facilitate the theft of real property from rightful owners. The properties involved in the fraudulent warranty deed transfers were almost always vacant lots with unpaid back taxes due and/or with weed liens filed against them by the city of Fort Worth.

After identifying a property, Fisher would often file a forged warranty deed transferring the property to a fictitious buyer, forging the signature of the true property owner, and forging the signature and notary stamp affixed to the documents. After forging the deed, Fisher filed it with the Tarrant County Clerk’s Office and once it was on file, the clerk’s office would record it and mail the original file-stamped fraudulent warranty deeds to the name and address designated on the warranty deed."

"Armed with property records, crooks can then purchase $10 property transfer forms at any office supply store. The signatures of “sellers” are forged, and paperwork is filed with the city or county recorder’s office. In many states, deed recorders and those who oversee property closings are not required to authenticate the identities of buyers or sellers. Some crooks simply create fake IDs, stealing the real homeowner’s identity.

With a newly issued deed, stolen homes are sometimes sold, as in Bidwell’s case, for a fraction of their worth to cash-paying buyers (who are also scammed). But more often, hijacked homes are used as collateral to get new loans.

Lenders are more likely to issue new loans to homeowners with no existing mortgage. “The elderly are most often targeted because they usually don’t have a mortgage,” says Molly Butters of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office."

"The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property.

Some of the information was laughable: Original "King Kong" star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton.

The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city's system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions.

The loophole: The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn't require clerks to verify the information.

Less than 90 minutes after the bogus documents were submitted...the agency rubber-stamped the transfer from Empire State Land Associates to Nelots Properties LLC. Nelots is "stolen" spelled backward."