‘Scary ads’ may be victimizing homeowners

“FBI Says You May Not Own Your Home,” blares the headline on Home Title Lock’s website.

The fearsome message is echoed in ads featuring radio hosts Kim Komando and Dana Loesch, as well as presidential lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who declares: “When your life is in chaos, your home is your safe haven. Imagine losing your home to some online scammer. In an instant your home is no longer yours. Is this even possible? Yes.”

Home Title Lock offers a “free title scan” and “comprehensive title report” – when you sign up for services at $14.99 a month.

But wait, there’s more: The “Check if You’re a Victim” button on its website leads to an order form with service subscription offers ranging up to $596 for four years, with various discounts.

Home stealing, or title fraud, happens, according to the FBI, when thieves track down ownership of a home that’s either empty, a second residence or one occupied by an elderly resident. Then swindlers create a sham identity through credit cards and personal information and take the next step of transferring the property to that non-existent person. They may take a further step of obtaining a home-equity loan against the property. Since much property information is online and stolen identity information readily available on the “dark” web, it’s a multi-layered scam. (Thieves can obtain the title ownership information from public records then send in falsified forms using the fake identity.)

The FBI first issued a report on what it calls “home stealing” in 2008 during the mortgage/credit meltdown, noting “house-stealing is not too common at this point, but we’re keeping an eye out for any major cases or developing trends.”

The most current evidence of title fraud is principally reflected in a three-year-old national study from the FBI, which estimated that some 9,600 U.S. homeowners were victims of title fraud. That’s a microscopic percentage – slightly more than .0001% – of the roughly 87 million U.S. homes owned, but it was a cause of concern since it was a declared a new venue for identity thieves. The American Land Title Association, a trade group representing the property titling industry, did not respond to RCI’s request for information on title thefts.

Yet is stealing a title and getting stolen home equity credit as easy as forging title documents? No, because it involves obtaining and transferring a title or deed, deceiving a title company, county recorders of deeds and lenders, each of whom have several layers of protection in place.

And don’t confuse home stealing with the much larger problem of mortgage fraud, which involves obtaining home loans using false or stolen information. It’s also relatively easy to monitor credit activity through free credit reports. If you suspect wrongdoing, you can “freeze” your credit file, again, for free. Of course, you can pay a third-party to monitor your credit information, although it may not stop any identity theft crimes. There are several other companies that offer this service.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Investigations.]