Property owners, protect yourself from scam thievery – Sentinel and Enterprise

It’s an absentee owner’s worst nightmare.

And as implausible as it sounds, it could happen to you.

As reported by several media outlets, the out-of-state owners of a 1.84-acre, million-dollar vacant lot in Concord received the shock of a lifetime in August when they called the town to ask why they hadn’t received their property tax bill.

That’s because, unknown to them, their property had been sold to someone who had already cleared the land and was in the process of building a house, according to court documents.

In shocked disbelief, the legal owners contacted everyone involved. Then they hired attorney Richard D. Vetstein of the Vetstein Law Group, who’s now on the case.

So far, Vetstein has determined that a scammer impersonated the real owners of the property remotely, and sold the parcel for $525,000 — half of what it’s worth — to a developer, who took out a hefty construction loan and began building on it immediately.

“Hindsight is 20/20, but the details in the complaint reveal so many red flags,” Vetstein said. “Everyone, including the town, is going to share in the blame.”

Neither the defendants named in the suit nor the town have consented to an interview. The phone number for the attorney who conveyed the property is no longer in service.

Vetstein said he’s convinced his clients will ultimately get their property back – which now includes a single-family home – or a large financial settlement from the defendants’ insurance policies. The FBI is also investigating, he said.

According to CertifID, a technology company that uses software, insurance services, and recovery services to combat wire fraud, real estate fraud is on the rise. It estimates that 1 in 4 consumers are targeted for fraud during a real estate transaction.

According to an FBI 2022 report on business email compromise and real estate wire fraud, there’d been a fourfold increase in real estate fraud over the previous four years.

Compromised emails affected 2,284 victims in 2022, resulting in $446 million in losses, based on FBI data. In 2023, the FBI saw a 10% increase in complaints.

According to CertifID, real estate has become a prime target due to several factors:

• Property listing data is available on public websites;

• The transactions involve large sums of money;

• “Typically up to 10 parties are involved in sharing information about the closing.”

Vetstein said that more attention to detail and follow-through could have prevented this bogus transaction, since the forms of identification and notarizations the scammer used did not look authentic.

The complaint alleges that prior to the purchase, the developer hired an engineer. When that person mailed a report to the current landowner, the owner called the town and asked that it halted the permitting process.

According to the complaint, the town informed the developer that someone was contesting the ownership. The developer reported this to the attorney involved in the sale and the real estate listing agent, but the deal proceeded nonetheless.

There are some protections afforded property owners in this state, but you need to know what each provision provides.

Homeowners, at the time of closing on a property, should be advised to file a document called the Declaration of Homestead.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, when purchasing a principal residence, your closing attorney must provide you, as a mortgagor, with notice of your right to declare a homestead protection. At that time, you will be asked to acknowledge receipt of this notice in writing.

A Homestead Declaration protects against attachment, seizure, execution on judgment, levy or sale for the payment of debts up to $1,000,000 per residence, per family.

Without this document, your protected value amounts to just $125,000.

For a nominal fee – $35 at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds – you can file the Homestead Declaration in person or online. Any homeowner who hasn’t done so already should contact the registry of deeds in your district.

However, that won’t insulate homeowners from what happened in this case.

But the state’s registries of deeds do offer some added protection from scammers assuming your identity and selling your property.

For example, the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds offers a notification tool, which alerts homeowners by email when a new document is recorded in their name or the home’s address. If you own property, you can create an account and register up to three properties.

Visit your local registry of deeds website to create that free account.

If you believe a document has been fraudulently recorded in your name, you should contact your local registry of deeds. For the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds, you can call 978-322-9000.

And victims of fraud should always contact local law enforcement.

Despite our best efforts, we can’t eliminate the possibility of stolen personal information.

How many of us have had our credit cards compromised?

While we can’t absolutely shield ourselves from scammers, just realizing that possibility exists should help keep up our guard – especially when it comes to our most valuable asset, our home.