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Deed fraud threatens New Jersey property owners

By: Michael L. Diamond
Asbury Park Press
USA Today Network - New Jersey

TRENTON - New Jerseyans are increasingly seeing fraudsters take over and sell their properties without their knowledge, and the state and the private sector are poorly equipped to prevent it, said a report released September 10 [2026] by state investigators.
..... The State Omission of Investigation and scammers are targeting seniors, owners of vacant land and second-homes owners, who don't discover they have lost what often is their most valuable asset until it is too late. and it can cost them countless hours and thousands of dollars in legal fees to reclaim it.
..... "There are multiple weak spots along the chain that weren't spots years ago," Bruce Keller, SCI's executive director, said in an interview. "Parties who don't have a previous relationship with one another often get together, and that just creates opportunities for fraudsters to swoop in, impersonate people's identities, claim they're the owners of properties that they don't truly own, and get away with it."
..... SCI is considered one of New Jersey's leaning watchdog agencies, and the investigation is one of the first reports overseen by Keller, who was appointed the agency's executive director a little over a year ago.
..... The report titled "Deed Fraud and related Schemes," spotlighted a restively new type of scam that has been detected nationwide and results form a translation that increasingly happens remotely, slipping by a team of real estate professionals - agents, title companies attorneys - who are annularly involved with the sale.
..... The FBI found about 135 reported incidents of deed fraud and vacant land fraud in New Jersey from 2020 through the beginning f March 2026. Law enforcement found an uptick in Ocean, Susses, Bergen and Cape May counties. And the actual figure likely was much higher given that victims of identity theft can be reluctant to file a report, SCI investigators said.
..... Unlike an identity theft that results from victims who, say, mistakenly click on a phishing link, SCI found a handful of examples in which New Jersey property owners didn't take any Online action, only to be surprised they no longer owned their land.
..... In Warren County, SCI reported, a buyer acquired a parcel of vacant land for $60,000 with the help of an experienced real estate agent, attorney and title company, only to visit the property and run into the true owner, who had no idea the land had been sold.
..... In Middlesex County, the agency said, a person who owned a vacant parcel for several years learned that the land had been sold when he tried to pay his taxes and was told his account had been closed. He found that the property was listed, marketed and sold by an impersonator with falsified documents and forged signatures. And he needed to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to unwind the transaction.
..... "It's the result of somebody impersonating them, getting false documents," said Emily Schrank, counsel for SCI. "A lot of the victims in these cases didn't really actually affirmatively do anything to be a victim of the fraud."

Perils of remote real estate sales

..... The fraud works like this:
..... Perpetrators identify properties through public records, typically focusing on undeveloped land and homes that are lee likely to be detected until the title had been transferred. For example, they often target undeveloped land or action homes, where owners aren't regular present.
..... The fraudsters create fake identification documents, email accounts and other credentials to impersonate the owner. they list the property for sale either by owner or through a real estate agent. they often seek all-cash buyers willing to close rapidly and remotely. And they make up reasons they can't appear in person.
..... "successful frauds usually minimize opportunities for in-person verification by requiring all communications, signatures, and closing procedures to occur remotely, using email and electric signatures," SCI investigators wrote. "this makes it easier to fraudulently execute closing documents, including notarizations. In this way, real estate professionals, title companies, attorneys, and escrow agents who participate in remote transactions may unwittingly facilitate the fraud.
..... New Jersey isn't alone. The FBI warned the public it was at risk for the scam in May 2024. And a few other states and counties are trying to combat it with steps that can sou old like a scene form a science fiction movie.
..... Homeowners in Leavenworth County, Kansas, for example, can voluntarily record a "biometric lien" against their own property by agreeing to be photographed with a 3D biometric liveness camera that takes an image resistant to spoofing. The liens would put tile companies and lenders on notice that the priority can't be transferred without the owner's participation.

'Fraud alerts' vs. prevention

..... Other guardrails, however, take effect after the fact. Private companies have introduced products to monitor transactions with subscriptions that can cost $9.99 per month to more than $20 a month, but they don't provide legal or financial protections, the SCI wrote.
.... and most New Jersey counties, including Monmouth and Ocean, have a "property alert service" that notifies owners who sign up that the little to their property has been involved in a transaction. but owners are alerted only after the document has been recorded, and it doesn't prevent the fraud, investigators said.
..... SCI officials are urging lawmakers to take additional steps.
..... Among the ideas:
* Strengthen identification requirements. New Jersey could require real estate licensees to verify the identity of an individual seeking to list the property for sale; ensure that notaries can verify a signaler's identity; and tighten identify verification when properties are conveyed.
* Enhance existing safeguards. Allow owners who have signed up for their counties; property alert services to freeze their title until they agree to lift the freeze - a move that the SCI says would turn a fraud detection tool into fraud prevention.
* Expedite "quiet title" proceedings. A bill introduced in June [2026] would allow the state or local government to recover possession of, or quiet little to, residential property if there is an investigation into fraud. It would allow victims who lost the property thought deed fraud to regain the title more quickly.
..... "I am hopeful that the Legislature will seriously consider our recommendations, hold hearings, get all interested parties to weigh in and then pick some of the problems that we have noted," Keller said. "I think everyone can agree, if you can take some smart steps top nip this in the bud, why wouldn't you do that?"

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