Buying a home is already a stressful process. Dealing with contracts, financing, inspections, and the seemingly endless stream of paperwork. Well now a new danger is lurking, one that few people are aware of. And it is slowly creeping into our local real estate markets. According to a recent warning from the FBI, they’re called “title pirates”. These criminals can go about stealing your property by filing fake documents that claim they own it. In the worst cases, the actual homeowner may not even realize they’ve fallen victim to the scam until they try to sell their home.
How Do Title Pirates Operate?
Title pirates will typically create fraudulent deeds and other documents that falsely claim they own a property. These documents are then filed with the local county clerks or recorders, making it appear as if they have legitimate ownership of the land or home. Once these documents are recorded, the criminals will then try to sell the property, take out loans against it, or rent it out. This often happens without the actual property owner realizing their title has been stolen. That is, until it’s too late.
While these crimes are still relatively rare compared to other forms of identity theft, experts are seeing an uptick in title fraud cases, particularly across Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, where certain digital schemes may go undetected for longer.
Recent Title Pirate Incidents in the Tri-State Area
In Iowa, this scam was reported by the Southeast Iowa Union, where title fraudsters have been using fake quit claim deeds to transfer property ownership to themselves. In one incident, a fraudulent document was filed in Polk County, causing confusion when a home was listed for sale, even though the actual homeowner had not sold it. Additionally, residents in Winneshiek County received deceptive postcards warning about “lapsed home warranties,” which turned out to be part of a larger scam to steal property titles through fraudulent claims…