Understand the fraud, protect your home.
The more you know about how home and title fraud works, the harder you are to target. Here's a plain-language guide for homeowners and families.
What home & title fraud looks like
A criminal forges paperwork to transfer your home into their name, then borrows against it or tries to sell it — often without you knowing until a bill or notice arrives.
Bad actors file false liens against your property, clouding your title and creating legal and financial headaches you never agreed to.
Scammers target homes with significant equity — especially paid-off homes and those of older owners — to pull cash out through fraudulent loans.
How criminals steal a home
Four quiet steps — and by the time most homeowners find out, the damage is done.
Property records are public. Scammers match them against private information they've pulled from the constant data breaches and hacked government agencies happening across the country — linking your home directly to you.
Using your name and address, they create a fraudulent deed transferring your home into their name — sometimes with a fake or coerced notarization.
The forged deed is filed with the county. But recording offices only record documents — they don't verify them — so the government office did nothing wrong. On paper, your home now belongs to someone else, and no one alerts you.
They take out loans against your home in your name — leaving you to fight in court for your own property. By the time you find out, odds are it's already in foreclosure and your credit is destroyed by debt you never took on.
Warning signs to watch for
Any one of these on its own can be innocent — but together, or out of the blue, they're worth investigating right away.
- You stop receiving your property tax or mortgage statements unexpectedly.
- You get bills, notices, or calls about a loan or refinance you never applied for.
- Official mail arrives addressed to a name you don't recognize at your address.
- You're contacted about 'confirming' a property transfer or signing documents you didn't initiate.
- A title search turns up a lien, deed change, or owner you didn't authorize.
How to protect yourself and your family
Deed and title records are public — and checking them yourself is hard to keep up with. Watch for small changes such as a shift in entity ownership; a fraudulent name can look identical or nearly identical to yours to the untrained eye. Continuous monitoring (like DeedLock) watches for you, 24/7.
Over 90% of unknown calls and emails are scams. Never confirm personal or property details to an unsolicited contact.
Slow down on anything involving your deed, a refinance, or a transfer. Confirm directly with your county recorder, lender, or title company using a number you look up yourself.
Scammers attack everyone now. What was once aimed mostly at seniors hits every age group equally, as overseas operations use AI to run convincing scams at massive scale. Talk with parents, grandparents — and each other — about these tactics. Awareness is the first line of defense.
Common questions
It's one of the fastest-growing forms of property fraud. In fact, 63% of real estate professionals reported seeing deed theft or title fraud in the past year (National Association of REALTORS®) — and paid-off homes and older owners are targeted most.
Traditional title insurance generally covers issues that existed before you bought the home — not new fraud that happens while you own it. Ongoing monitoring and recovery is a different kind of protection.
Act fast. Contact your county recorder's office, your lender, and law enforcement, and gather any suspicious notices. If you're a DeedLock member, your dedicated fraud specialist and restoration team guide you through every step.
The earlier fraud is caught, the easier and cheaper it is to unwind. Real-time alerts mean you find out when something is filed against your property — not months later when the damage is done.
Knowledge is step one. Protection is step two.
DeedLock puts your property under 24/7/365 monitoring so you don't have to watch the records yourself.