The FBI is sending an urgent warning to homeowners to be aware of ‘title theft,’ the latest of various moves fraudsters make in order to steal a property owner’s identity and sell their land out from under them.
The land theft is on the rise, with the FBI saying the scammers tend to prey on the elderly.
‘Our elderly population [are more at risk] because they are more likely to own vacant pieces of land that they have had for quite some time, and they are also more likely to own homes without any mortgages on them,’ FBI Special Agent Vivian Barrios told CBS.
‘Because those have the biggest benefit to the criminal actor.’
In Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, 2,301 victims lost more than $61.5 million from 2019 to 2023.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, nationwide, from 2019 through 2023, 58,141 victims reported $1.3 billion in losses relating to real estate fraud.
In the Boston Division – which includes all of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island – during the same period, 2,301 victims reported losing more than $61.5 million. In Maine 262 victims lost $6,253,008. In Massachusetts, 1,576 people lost $46,269,818.