The Scam

Phase 1 Landowner Impersonation

 

Criminals create fake identifications (drivers licenses and/or U.S. passports), Outlook email addresses, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) generated phone numbers and use them to impersonate landowners. Criminals can obtain property parcel owner’s personally identifiable information through county or state public websites, data brokers, stolen account information, phishing schemes, or purchased from the dark web or hackers.

Phase 2 Contact with Realtors and Title Companies

 

Criminals contact a local realtor and title company, pose as the property parcel owner, and draft property-related contracts to market and sell the vacant property parcels. In one instance, a fictious deed was used to further substantiate the impersonation and convince realtors of the validity of the sale.