Deed Scam Uses Out-Of-Town Mail Solicitations, Offer To Pay Back Taxes

In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Gazette reports:

• Ted Baker knew he was being scammed when he received a letter in late February from a Texas woman asking him to sign over the deed to his deceased mother's Elder Street home. The letter writer offered to pay the property's delinquent taxes and give Baker a check for $300 in exchange for the house. Instead, Baker contacted city and county tax officials about the delinquent taxes. "My mother hadn't paid her 2007 winter taxes to the city and they were $216,'' Baker said, "but, there's no way the county could have known about this.''

• Kalamazoo County Treasurer Mary Balkema said she was not surprised when Baker told her about the letter. With foreclosure rates at an all-time high, Balkema said property solicitations, including a copy of a deed to sign, from out-of-town speculators are becoming commonplace and frequently target the elderly, Balkema said.

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• The letter informed Baker that Kalamazoo County records indicated delinquent taxes on the property made the house eligible for sale at Calhoun County's upcoming tax sale. It said all Baker had to do to have the taxes paid off and receive an additional $300 was to sign an enclosed deed transferring title of the property to the woman and her husband.

For more, see Scam offers to pay taxes to get deed.