Squatters Pocketing Money Renting Out Homes They Don't Own; Others Hit Up Lenders In "Cash For Keys" Deals

Reuters reports:

• [S]quatting is on the rise across the United States as foreclosures surge, eviction notices mount and homes go unsold for months, complicating the worst U.S. housing slump in a quarter century and forcing real-estate brokers to enlist the help of law enforcement and courts to sell empty houses.

• In some regions, squatting is taking on new twists to include real-estate scams in which thieves "rent out" abandoned homes they don't own. Others involve "professional squatters" who move from one abandoned home to another posing as tenants who seek cash from banks as a condition to leave the premises -- a process known by real-estate brokers as "cash for key."

For more, see As homes foreclose in U.S., squatters move in. unwitting tenant rent scam yacht