Deed, Refinancing Scams By Forgery Has County Recorders Seeking Help To Protect Property Owners

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, The Journal Gazette reports:

• It took The Journal Gazette less than an hour to “steal” the 300-foot-tall Lincoln Tower. With a little research, a typewriter and an $8.99 form from a local office supply store, the newspaper was able to prepare a deed transferring ownership of the city’s most iconic building from its current owners to the city’s most iconic citizen, John Chapman, better known as “Johnny Appleseed.”

• The deed was not recorded, so ownership of the building was never in jeopardy. But Allen County Chief Deputy Recorder Anita Mather examined the notarized deed and said her staff would have no choice but to accept and record it, even though the reporter who signed the document had no right to transfer ownership in the 79-year-old art deco building and no money changed hands.

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• Why would someone want to steal a building? Experts say thieves are not interested in the property at all – they’re interested in showing ownership so they can get a fraudulent loan and disappear with the money. That can leave the true property owner holding the bag, and it has county recorders asking for help to prevent the practice.(1)

For more, see Mortgage fraud: It’s so simple, it’s scary.

Go here, Go here, Go here, Go here, Go here, and Go here for other posts related to deed or refinancing scams by forgery, swindle, power of attorney abuse, etc.

(1) Reportedly, local officials fear a wave of scams where senior citizens lose their homes before anyone knows what happened. It could be possible for someone to never know what had taken place until the house they had paid off years ago is threatened with foreclosure. Technically, the bank that made the loan would be the victim, but the homeowner would first have to prove that the “sale” was fraudulent and have it voided. For a story where a homeowner claimed to have her home equity ripped off from out from under her through forged documents, and then still lost her home to foreclosure when the payments on the allegedly forged mortgage went unpaid, see Oshawa mother faces eviction after alleged mortgage scam. DeedGammaTheft