Home title fraud is one of the fastest-growing cybercrimes in real estate, allowing criminals to steal ownership through falsified documents and exploit property assets without the owner’s knowledge. This silent threat puts both homeowners and businesses at risk, but with the right protective measures, you can stay one step ahead.
Home Title Fraud Defined
Do you know how ridiculously easy it is to commit home title fraud? All a criminal needs to do is file a falsified deed of sale using the legitimate owner’s ID with the local office of public records.
Once the title is transferred to another name the person owning that identity (also fake) can do with the property as they wish; sell it, withdraw equity, or borrow against it – all without the true owner’s knowledge. It happens to residential and commercial owners whether the property is occupied or vacant.
Many don’t find out until it’s too late, like when a For Sale sign gets posted in the yard, a moving truck shows up, or foreclosure notices start coming for a second mortgage and a home equity line of credit (HELOC) they never applied for.
Online access to the required forms and past real estate transaction records makes it easier for criminals to manipulate the system and pose as the rightful owner because:
- They do not have to appear at the county clerk’s office to file the new title.
- They do not have to meet with banks or mortgage lenders in person to apply for loans.
- They can dupe a real estate agent sight-unseen into taking a fake listing to sell the property.
Everything is done online or over the phone – no video meetings or visual evidence. Now we can call them cybercriminals. They know the public records office is too overwhelmed to verify signatures or call the property owner to confirm the sale.
The real estate agent or HELOC loan officer is only too eager to make a commission. As long as all the data lines up, no one smells fraud until the deed is done, so to speak.
Cybercriminals know this. They count on it. That’s why the FBI says Americans lost almost $400 million to cases of real estate-related fraud in 2023.
How Home Title Fraud Impacts Property Owners
Obviously, the biggest risk to individuals or families is losing their home to one of these scams. Short of that, the legal mess of trying to untie financial knots after a fraudulent buyer may have invested money in the property, figure out who is responsible and return a clean title to the proper owners could take months or years, causing more stress and financial pain to all victims.
The Business Risk of Home Title Fraud
The outcome for individuals is beyond devastating, however the greater risk (and reward for cyber criminals) is to businesses operating in the real estate transaction arena.
A homeowner may fall victim once but after that be hyper-aware of future scams. When a cyber criminal successfully breaches the databases of real estate agents and brokerages, mortgage lenders and title companies, they can access the confidential client identity and property data needed to fill out hundreds of fraudulent deeds of sale and loan applications in one attack.
Being the source of a title fraud breach has destructive effects on any real estate-related business – especially title companies as they are usually the ones found liable for victims’ financial losses as it is their responsibility to process changes in property ownership.
Loss of trust and credibility lead to reputational damage and loss of business. For these reasons alone every business conducting real estate transactions must have easy-to-use yet strong cybersecurity measures in place to protect access to confidential client information, electronic loan and title records, and to maintain client trust.
Home Title Fraud Protection: Monitoring vs. Credential Management
Our advice to individuals and businesses is to remember that nobody is looking out for you but you. If a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is. If your spider-sense is tingling, don’t ignore it. Be proactive and start defending against home title fraud now. In this market you have choices: a home title monitoring service or credential management. Let’s compare.
Top Home Title Fraud Monitoring Services Compared
There are several home title protection services dedicated to alerting property owners to any change in title status. One example is Home Title Lock. For $19.95/month they will monitor a single home’s title status 24/7. Should a fraudulent title change be detected, they will spend (not pay the owner) up to $1 million to resolve the issue and restore the title. Other providers like Identity Guard ($17.95/month), Aura (starting at $12/month), and LifeLock (starting at $9.99/month) offer home title fraud alerts bundled with identity theft and credit bureau monitoring. Some like IDStrong ($19.95/month) and Deed Shield ($9.99 per property/month) cover multiple properties but offer little or no reimbursement.
Common denominators:
- All are purely monitoring and alert services; they are neither prevention nor insurance against home title theft, although a couple offer incident reimbursement.
- Bundled identity and credit bureau monitoring services inform users if their information appears in suspicious databases but do nothing to resolve the problem.
- None offer modern security tools to encrypt and securely store data against hackers, support anti-virus software or features like two-factor authentication (2FA) for an extra layer of protection against hackers pretending to be a trusted user.
- All can get very expensive, especially if there are multiple properties to monitor. As such, these services are better suited to homeowners with one residence or a few investment properties, not businesses tracking titles on behalf of hundreds of clients.
Passpack Credential Management
Businesses going the credential management route can mitigate home title fraud risk before it becomes a problem and get a lot more protection for much less. For just $1.50/month for the Teams Plan and only $4.50/month for the Business Plan, Passpack delivers umbrella password protection and credential management across all users, clients and properties. It guards against all cyberthreats, not just real-estate title scams.
Does Passpack monitor and alert users to changes in home title status? No. But to commit title theft through an agency/brokerage/title company the cybercriminal first needs access to client personal data and property records.
If the passwords to those accounts and document vaults are safely locked away, encrypted, and protected by Passpack’s Zero Knowledge model, unique Packing Key technology and 2FA capabilities, you can be sure your business won’t be the source of a breach or the betrayer of your clients’ trust.
That’s not to say individuals shouldn’t invest in a home title protection service if they feel compelled, but you’ve already cut the cybercriminals off at the cyberpass with Passpack!
In addition to using AES 256-bit end-to-end encryption to secure all passwords and data (shared notes, policy numbers, PINs, etc.) in each user’s account, the Passpack password management application also provides:
- Centralized management with 100% visibility and control of permissions over every user and team who have access to passwords and shared notes.
- Granular reporting with detailed histories of all password activity, who accessed an account, which passwords were used and when to provide traceability in the event of a breach.
- IP address login histories to identify devices or URLs attempting to access company passwords, which could indicate potential hacking activity.
Learn More about how Protecting Client Confidentiality in Real Estate Starts with Passpack Password Management.
Passpack Stops Title Fraud and More for Less
The choice is clear. Why spend upwards of $20/month for a single threat detection service when Passpack mitigates the risk of title home fraud plus all manner of password-related cyberattacks your business faces for as little as $1.50/month?
Maintain the trust of your clients, protect their investments and your business by securing their credentials with Passpack. Start your FREE 28-day trial today to see if Passpack is right for you.