The American Land Title Association says seller impersonation fraud attempts continue to increase as 28% of title companies experienced at least one of these incidents in 2023, according to their recent study. Interestingly, they point out that seller impersonation fraud often is caught before the real estate closing is completed. Their study showed that in 2023, 46% of companies said identifying and preventing fraudulent transactions before closing was at least somewhat common. To compare, only 26% of companies reported it was somewhat common to catch the fraud after closing.
Common characteristics of seller impersonation fraud include notarization issues and use of a property owner’s legitimate non-public personal information. The most common notarization issues were fake notary credentials (43%) and use of real notary credentials without permission (31%), according to the study.
Vacant land at 85% was the most targeted type of property last year, followed by vacation homes (37%), rental properties (37%) and agricultural land (23%).
Click here to read the full report at ALTA.
