House Stealing: ID Theft's Newest Face

Having someone steal your identity might sound bad enough. But the latest trend involves thieves stealing both your identity and your house. Yep. Identity thieves can now steal your house out from right underneath you without you even knowing it. In some cases, the rightful owner of the home was still making mortgage payments after a thief had already had the title transferred into someone else’s name. House Stealing, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) calls it, is a combination crime involving both mortgage fraud and identity theft.

How House Stealing Works

House stealing is an elaborate six step process that can go on without the rightful owner of an identity (and a house) not even knowing about it. Despite its magnitude, this is actually a very easy crime to commit and it’s nearly impossible to protect yourself from. But, before you panic, you should know that it is still a newer crime and hasn’t become too popular or common yet. Familiarizing yourself with the steps thieves taking in attempting to steal your identity and your home will greatly reduce your chances of being victimized.

1. Thieves pick out a home with a high resale value. Much like regular buyers, house stealers shop for location. But they are also known to shop for easy access, especially honing in on rental properties or vacation homes that may be vacant during part of the year. Thieves may initially start with a long list of potential target homes before whittling it down to the ones that are really worth stealing.

2. They check public records to learn about the owners. Once thieves have a list of addresses compiled, they head to the local courthouse (or any other facility where public records are easily accessible) and they begin doing their homework on the current owners of each targeted house learning everything about them that they possibly can.

3. The search is then moved to the internet. Once they have all the knowledge they need about the initial transaction information, and the names and other identifying information about the owners, thieves then take their search to the internet where they might learn some of the more personal clues that would help them temporarily assume someone else’s identity.

4. Fake IDs and social security cards are then produced. Once thieves are armed with a significant amount of information about homeowners, they are set up to easily commit identity fraud by forging legal documents like social security cards and drivers licenses. With these forged documents they are able to do business with banks and or mortgage companies if necessary.

5. Forms for transferring the deed to the house(s) are purchased at an office supply store. Thieves then take these forms and their newly minted fake IDs and pay a visit to a local notary where they then sign the forms and have them notarized. They then file those forms with the county in which the property is located, officially stealing the house right out from underneath the rightful owners.

6. Thieves then take possession of, or sell, the house(s). If the rightful owners of the home are not currently living in the house (due to being moved into a nursing home, or because the property is a vacation or rental home) they evict any current tenants and take possession immediately. In some cases they move into the home themselves. While in other cases they sell the houses right away. Mortgage fraud comes further into play when they apply for a loan for the “purchase price” of the home and have the bank make that amount payable directly to them. So, the bank loses money and the rightful owners lose their homes.

Protecting Yourself

Since this crime tends to easily fly below the radar, it can be hard to detect and even harder to protect yourself from. But there are primarily three things you can do to decrease your odds of being victimized by this one-two punch of identity theft and mortgage fraud.

1. Open all mail you receive from any mortgage company. If you receive mail from any mortgage company, open it whether it is addressed to you or not. Make sure you read all of the information carefully and contact the sending company if they mention anything about their being a mortgage or mortgage request made on your home.

2. Check with your county’s deed office periodically. It’s also a good idea to check with your county deed office periodically and make sure there isn’t any paperwork you don’t recognize or anything with a fraudulent signature on it in the file for your house.

3. Purchase ID Secure. ID Secure might greatly increase your peace of mind as well as the level of protection guarding your identity. For just $1 for the first month, and $12.99 a month after that, a professional identity monitoring company will use advanced web crawling technology to search the internet and public records to make sure that your social security number, credit and ATM cards and other personal information isn’t being fraudulently used in any way. ID Secure makes sure your identity is being monitored 24 hours a day seven days a week helping to keep it safe. If fraudulent activity is suspected, you will be informed immediately.  

House stealing is still a newer crime and thieves are still in the beginning stages of figuring out just what works—and what doesn’t—when it comes to pulling this crime off. Make sure you stop them in their tracks if they come knocking on your door.