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HOUSE STEALING
The Latest Scam on the Block
03/25/08
What do you get when you combine two popular rackets these days—identity theft and mortgage fraud? A totally new kind of crime: house stealing.
Here’s how it generally works:
1) The con artists start by picking out a house to steal—say, YOURS.
2) Next, they assume your identity—getting a hold of your name and personal information (easy enough to do off the Internet) and using that to create fake IDs, social security cards, etc.
3) Then, they go to an office supply store and purchase forms that transfer property.
4) After forging your signature and using the fake IDs, they file these deeds with the proper authorities, and lo and behold, your house is now THEIRS.
There are some variations on this theme…
Con artists look for a vacant house—say, a vacation home or rental property—and do a little research to find out who owns it. Then, they steal the owner’s identity, go through the same process of transferring the deed, put the empty house on the market, and pocket the profits.
Or, the fraudsters steal a house a family is still living in…find a buyer (someone, say, who is satisfied with a few online photos)…and sell the house without the family even knowing. In fact, the rightful owners continue right on paying the mortgage for a house they no longer own.
It can get even more complicated than this, as we learned in a recent case out of Los Angeles that we investigated with the IRS. Last year, a real estate business owner in southeast Los Angeles pled guilty to leading a scam that defrauded more than 100 homeowners and lenders out of some $12 million. She promised to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages by refinancing their loans. Instead, she and her partners in crime used stolen identities or “straw buyers” (people who are paid for the illegal use of their personal information) to purchase these homes. They then pocketed the money they borrowed but never made any mortgage payments. In the process, the true owners lost the title to their homes and the banks were out the money they had loaned to fake buyers.
So how can prevent your house from getting stolen? Not easily, we’re sorry to say. The best you can do at this point is to stay vigilant. A few suggestions:
If you receive a payment book or information from a mortgage company that’s not yours, whether your name is on the envelope or not, don’t just throw it away. Open it, figure out what it says, and follow up with the company that sent it.
From time to time, it’s also a good idea to check all information pertaining to your house through your county’s deeds office. If you see any paperwork you don’t recognize or any signature that is not yours, look into it.
House-stealing is not too common at this point, but we’re keeping an eye out for any major cases or developing trends. Please contact us or your local police if you think you’ve been victimized.
HTC Internet subscribers,
Please exercise caution when responding to unsolicited e-mails. HTC sometimes sends important research, marketing and service related e-mails to our customers. While these e-mails may ask for confirmation of your e-mail address, they will not ask for any log-in information. Safeguard your personal log-in information and do not send log-in information for any account to an address or a location with which you do not have a relationship.
You may have received the e-mail below. Our staff has determined that this is a fraudulent e-mail, sometimes referred to as phishing.
If you have received this e-mail, delete it immediately and do not respond. It is the policy of HTC never to request confidential information, such as customer passwords, via e-mail.
If you have responded to this e-mail, you will need to change your password via the Member Services portal. A link to the portal is located on the www.sccoast.net (dialup customers), or www.htcnetracer.com (broadband customers) website at the top of each page.
If you have any questions, please contact our Technical Support line at 1-888-781-2006.
This is the fraudulent e-mail - March 14, 2008:
Dear NET Subscriber:
This mail is to inform all our {NET} users that we will be upgrading our site in a couple of days from now. So you as a Subscriber of our site you are required send us your Email account details so as to enable us know if you are still making use of your mail box. Further be informed that we will be deleting all mail account that is not functioning so as to create more space for new user. so you are to send us your mail account details which are as follows: *User name: *Password: *Date of birth: Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated from our database. You can also confirm your email address by logging into your NET account at http://webmail.net/ Thank you for using NET! FROM THE NET SUPPORT TEAM
This is the fraudulent e-mail from January 2008:
Dear Sccoast Subscriber,
To complete your Sccoast account, you must reply to this email immediately and enter your password here (*********)
Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated from our database.
You can also confirm your email address by logging into your Sccoast account at http://sccourier.sccoast.net/
Thank you for using SCCOAST.NET!
THE SCCOAST TEAM
IRS Warns of New E-Mail and Telephone Scams Using the IRS Name; Advance Payment Scams Starting
IR-2008-11, Jan. 30, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today warned taxpayers to beware of several current e-mail and telephone scams that use the IRS name as a lure. The IRS expects such scams to continue through the end of tax return filing season and beyond.
The IRS cautioned taxpayers to be on the lookout for scams involving proposed advance payment checks. Although the government has not yet enacted an economic stimulus package in which the IRS would provide advance payments, known informally as rebates to many Americans, a scam which uses the proposed rebates as bait has already cropped up.
The goal of the scams is to trick people into revealing personal and financial information, such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers, which the scammers can use to commit identity theft.
Typically, identity thieves use a victim’s personal and financial data to empty the victim’s financial accounts, run up charges on the victim’s existing credit cards, apply for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim’s name, file fraudulent tax returns or even commit crimes. Most of these fraudulent activities can be committed electronically from a remote location, including overseas. Committing these activities in cyberspace allows scamsters to act quickly and cover their tracks before the victim becomes aware of the theft.
People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years — and their hard-earned money — cleaning up the mess thieves have made of their reputations and credit records. In the meantime, victims may lose job opportunities, may be refused loans, education, housing or cars, or even get arrested for crimes they didn't commit.
The most recent scams brought to IRS attention are described below.
Rebate Phone Call
At least one scheme using the word “rebate” as part of the lure has been identified. In that scam, consumers receive a phone call from someone identifying himself as an IRS employee. The caller tells the targeted victim that he is eligible for a sizable rebate for filing his taxes early. The caller then states that he needs the target’s bank account information for the direct deposit of the rebate. If the target refuses, he is told that he cannot receive the rebate.
This phone call is a scam. No legislation has yet been enacted that would allow the IRS to provide advance payments to taxpayers or that determines the details of those payments. Moreover, the IRS does not force taxpayers to use direct deposit. Those who opt for direct deposit do so by completing the appropriate section of their tax return, with bank routing and account information, when they file; the IRS does not gather the information by telephone.
Refund e-Mail
The IRS has seen several variations of a refund-related bogus e-mail which falsely claims to come from the IRS, tells the recipient that he or she is eligible for a tax refund for a specific amount, and instructs the recipient to click on a link in the e-mail to access a refund claim form. The form asks the recipient to enter personal information that the scamsters can then use to access the e-mail recipient’s bank or credit card account.
In a new wrinkle, the current version of the refund scam includes two paragraphs that appear to be directed toward tax-exempt organizations that distribute funds to other organizations or individuals. The e-mail contains the name and supposed signature of the Director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations business division.
This e-mail is a phony. The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to individual, business, tax-exempt or other taxpayers.
Filing a tax return is the only way to apply for a tax refund; there is no separate application form. Taxpayers who wish to find out if they are due a refund from their last annual tax return filing may use the “Where’s My Refund?” interactive application on this Web site, IRS.gov. The only official IRS Web site is located here at www.irs.gov.
