Vantage Point Title Combines Approaches to Prevent Fraud
by Carole Ellis
In April 2025, the title fraud problem in real estate reached such magnitude that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a formal warning that officially put the real estate profession and property owners on high alert. The alert stated title fraud is wreaking “devastating consequences” on often unsuspecting property owners who have “no idea their properties [are] being sold right out from under them.”
The notice also contained information on the difficulties of remedying fraudulent title actions. The FBI warned title fraud often involves lengthy reclamation processes inside the court system made more complicated by the fact that the buyers of properties acquired through fraudulent title actions are typically victims just like the original property owners.
Time is Critical
Speedy identification and action are essential. If a fraudulent title action is not identified and reported to the FBI within roughly 72 hours of the occurrence, Jodi Cohen, a special agent with the FBI, said, then the FBI typically will be unable to “snatch” back lost properties and funds. Cohen continued, explaining title fraud takes many forms and that a new type of title scam, run by “title pirates,” involves conveying title to properties in ways that appear legal and are nearly undetectable until money has been wired to the scammer and the fraud has been recorded.
“You can never be too careful when you are dealing with title-related schemes and fraudsters,” said Shelley Hickson, senior vice president of National Sales and a Default Specialist at Vantage Point Title (VPT). “It is not enough to be reactive to fraud; you can see that from the way that the FBI is warning potential victims that after 72 hours, it might be too late to claw back a fraudulent transaction,” she continued. “Real estate professionals and all property owners must be proactive to prevent these issues in the first place.”
Alex Morgan, VPT’s executive vice president, agreed, noting, “Some of the preventative measures we take to be proactive are simple, such as not permitting changes to the wiring instructions once the transaction is underway. Vantage Point has refined the entire fraud-protection and -detection processes to enable us to spot potential red flags and distinguish between red flags and legitimate client needs.”
For example, Morgan said, in the event wiring instructions must be altered, Vantage Point carefully looks at all parties making the request. The company examines who is escalating the change, working carefully with the lender involved in the transaction to verify the identities of all parties before taking any action. Morgan, who worked with Auction.com in its early stages and was involved in the development of the process that enabled the company to ultimately sell off thousands of homes via online auction in a single weekend, is intimately familiar with the “nooks and crannies” in real estate transactions where bad actors attempt to hide.
“This type of fraud is truly egregious behavior,” Morgan said. “It preys on the elderly, those who are not as tech-savvy, and those who own their homes outright and may be relying on those properties for support during retirement. The best and only true line of defense for all property owners is to get good title insurance that will help the good actors identify situations in which a scammer is attempting to infiltrate the transaction.”
For VPT clients, the company works with other title companies associated with a property and leverages the power of technology and AI to trace a chain of title all the way through the history of the property.
“This gives everyone clear title and sound mind,” Hickson explained. “It is especially important when you are dealing with probate properties because even the heirs may not have clear title despite their belief that they do. Not many people think about that. There are often former spouses or even current spouses that are not clearly designated as having an interest in the title, and this interest must be defined to truly understand who all has ownership in the property,” she concluded.
For title fraudsters, a successful scam comes with an enormous payoff: once a fraudulent title has been successfully filed and has not been detected, the scammer will be able to sell the property or take out liens on the property with little threat of detection or recourse. “They can act as the property owner, transferring property title, refinancing into a new mortgage, or even selling the property without the owner’s knowledge or consent,” Morgan said. “That is why we have trained our team in spotting the slightest indications that wiring instructions have been altered or changed or that anything about a title is outside the norm. Our clients depend on it.”
Sidebar: The 3 Types of Title Fraud Sweeping the Industry
There are three primary types of title fraud threatening the real estate industry today. They are:
- Title forgery
This type of title fraud involves forging deeds or titles in order to transfer ownership from a legal owner to the scammer or a fictitious entity. Upon successful transfer, the new “owner” may sell the property, refinance, or take out liens on the property. - Identity theft
A title fraudster may use stolen personal information to pose as a property owner and transfer the title, refinance a property, or sell the property without the true owner’s knowledge or consent. - Wire fraud
This is the most common type of title fraud. Using email scam tactics like spoofing and hacking, the scammer intercepts correspondence regarding payoff and wire instructions and makes adjustments to those instructions, posing as the lender, the borrower, or another interested party. Vantage Point Title has a template-based defensive process in place to assist in identification and prevention of this type of fraud.
Shelley Hickson is Senior Vice President of National Sales and a Default Specialist for Vantage Point Title. Alex Morgan is Executive Vice President of Vantage Point Title. Learn more about VPT and reach them at VPTitle.net.
