While violent crimes have fallen during the past decade, the boom in real estate, and even the real estate depression, has afforded ill-intended individuals the opportunity to engage in fraudulent practices involving real estate.

A type of fraud which has become very common involves the fraudulent transfer of title to properties.  Most times, the fraudulent transfer of a person’s property, to a third party, involves someone who knows the homeowner.  It can be a mortgage broker who the property owner visited to inquire about a loan.  It can even be a lawyer who knows the homeowner will not become aware of the fraudulent transfer.  Often times it involves children taking advantage of elderly parents to transfer title of property from their parents’ name into their own name.  Most of this is accomplished by having someone forge the name of a homeowner on a deed or fraudulently inducing the property owner to sign a deed under false pretense.  Many such cases have recently been prosecuted by authorities in New York.

In the State of California however this type of fraudulent practice is becoming more difficult.  The State has implemented a “Fraud Notification Program” which notifies a property owner every time there is a transfer of title of their property.  Once the homeowner is notified of a transfer, they can take immediate action and notify the authorities if the transfer was fraudulent.

This type of program would be very effective in New York however its implementation may be difficult.  Each county in New York State is responsible for recording deeds transferring title of property and the City Register of New York is responsible for doing so for all five boroughs.  Accordingly, if the State does not take an initiative to follow the lead of California, the City of New York should and can do so on its own.