Maine Commission Calls for Prevention Focus on Deed Fraud, Including Fake Sellers of Land

Deed fraud is showing up in Maine, and a state commission says the best response is to stop it before it happens.

What the report found

The Maine Legislature formed a Commission to Recommend Methods for Preventing Deed Fraud. According to the Bangor Daily News, the commission delivered its report late last year.

The report described deed fraud as "a growing problem nationwide" and said it has begun to appear in Maine. It paid particular attention to people who try to sell properties they do not own, sometimes called seller impersonation fraud.

Limited data

The report noted that there is not much information on how often deed fraud happens in Maine, what methods scammers use, or how each attempt is discovered. It attributed that gap to the absence of a uniform way to collect such information.

Why prevention matters

The commission said that people who commit seller impersonation fraud are hard to find and hold responsible, and that the resulting transactions are hard to unwind. For that reason, it called prevention essential.

The Bangor Daily News story that prompted the coverage centers on a Maine family that bought land on Mount Desert Island (MDI) hoping to build a home, only to have a scammer try to sell it. Vacant land can be an appealing target because no one lives there to notice something is wrong, though the report's findings apply to property owners more broadly.

Why it matters to homeowners

Your deed is the public record of who owns your property. If someone can pass themselves off as the owner, a sale could move forward before the real owner knows. Because fixing a fraudulent transfer is difficult, catching problems early is worth the small effort.

What you can do

• Check your records. Look up your property on your county registry of deeds or recorder website from time to time to confirm nothing unfamiliar has been filed.
• Sign up for alerts. If your county offers a property fraud or recording alert service, enroll.
• Watch your mail. Unexpected letters about your property, a mortgage, or a sale deserve attention, and so does mail that suddenly stops arriving.
• Keep an eye on vacant land. If you own land or a second property you rarely visit, check on it and its records more often.
• Act quickly if something looks wrong. Contact your county office and local law enforcement, and consider speaking with a real estate attorney or title company.
• Be cautious with personal documents. Share deed and identity information only with parties you have verified.

Source: Bangor Daily News