A review by The New York Times of several dozen cases, and interviews with lawyers, prosecutors and others knowledgeable about fraudulent deed transfers, suggests they are accelerating even as officials struggle to address them. The city’s Department of Finance said it was investigating 120 cases, many of them hard to crack because of the role played by LLCs, officials said. Underscoring the rising alarm over the problem, the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and the Brooklyn borough president, Eric L. Adams, held a forum last month to warn property owners about it.
Deed thieves often scan legal notices for mortgages in arrears, typically targeting properties like Ms. Campbell’s that are in poor repair or abandoned. Vulnerable homeowners — including older and disabled adults — are sometimes tricked into signing over their properties, while believing they are getting financial relief.
In other cases, signatures are simply forged on deeds. The thieves, meanwhile, hide behind inscrutable mazes of limited liability companies, rented post office boxes and fake addresses.
9 comments:
Is this a joke?
Doesn't the state have an enormous database of photo ids - the DMV database?
Don't people have to show id and have their title transfers notarized?
Real estate transactions are still in the Dark Ages - that's why so many foreigners are able to hide their dirty money in NYC property.
I guess voting and Queens transfers are exempt from identification.
You do not want to offend or discriminate against our wonderful diverse peoples...
Otherwise you need I.D. For:
1. Alcohol
2. Cigarettes
3. Opening a bank account
4. Apply for food stamps
5. Apply for welfare
6. Apply for Medicaid/Social
7. Apply for unemployment or a job
8. Rent/buy a house, apply for a mortgage???
9. Drive/buy/rent a car
10. Get on an airplane
11. Get married
12. Purchase a gun
13. Adopt a pet
14. Rent a hotel room
15. Apply for a hunting license
16. Apply for a fishing license
17. Buy a cell phone
18. Visit a casino
19. Pick up a prescription
20. Hold a rally or protest
21. Blood donations
22. Buy an "M" rated video game
23. Purchase nail polish at CVS
24. Purchase certain cold medicines
Just saying...
Deed fraud has been a big business, and it goes back many years. My father in-law got a nice 2 million dollar brownstone that he just paid the taxes for 30 years. It was not his but after he died we found this out. A fake deed was done and it was sold for 1.7 million dollars. It is in Manhattan. I did my research and found out the lady that owned the brownstone walked away from it and was living in South Carolina where she died. Yep has been going on for years but now it is coming to light.
Deed fraud has been a big business, and it goes back many years. My father in-law got a nice 2 million dollar brownstone that he just paid the taxes for 30 years. It was not his but after he died we found this out. A fake deed was done and it was sold for 1.7 million dollars. It is in Manhattan. I did my research and found out the lady that owned the brownstone walked away from it and was living in South Carolina where she died. Yep has been going on for years but now it is coming to light.
Sounds fishy. The bank didn't have your Dad pay for a deed search? What about buying title insurance? It's standard operating procedure. Maybe not back then?
Sarc:
You do not need an ID card when you go to vote.
anon
I said "exempt" defined as: free from an obligation.
Like an obligation to show identification.
I was commenting and agreeing with first poster wondering about notarized title transfers.
as I stated:
"I guess voting and Queens transfers are exempt from identification."
Please read carefully...
Obviously the notary at the "closing" is in on the fraud.
"The city’s Department of Finance said it was investigating 120 cases, many of them hard to crack because of the role played by LLCs"
These predatory swindlers with the assistance of banks and government indifference, incompetence and compliance are just sophisticated muggers. Since they prey on the infirm, the injured and the elderly.
It's a great thorough story, but it's pretty fucking late. Especially the way the Times did a lot of reports in the last 5 years on the upscaling and trendiness of these neighborhoods were these city-sanctioned crimes took place.
To follow up - My father in-law died and his family took over we got a deed and a loan to fix the brownstone up. There was never any problems not sure about title insurance or search. I assume it was done. Back then 2007 it was easy to do cause no one was watching.
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