Posted on 05/23/2022 5:36:03 PM PDT by libh8er
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Debi Gotlieb knew something was wrong when she could not find her late father’s home on the county assessor’s web page. The property was tied up in probate and should have been listed as owned by her father, Jerry Gotlieb, who died in March of 2018 at the age of 84.
“So I put in his address, and it said that it belonged to Zillow. And it showed that it was on the market,” said Gotlieb, who is a real estate agent. “I went to MLS, and it was empty.” All of her father’s possessions were gone. Gotlieb says she drove to the home, called the real estate agent who sold the house to Zillow, and called the police.
“I told the police, ‘I don’t know what happened, but it’s cleaned out, and it’s not in my name.’ And he said, ‘Stay out of the house. It’s not your house,’” said Gotlieb.
“When Debi came to me, the immediate response was how are we going to get this woman’s house back?” said David Degnan, the lawyer Gotlieb hired. Degnan said at that point, time was of the essence because if the house were sold again, it would become more difficult to get it back.
“We had to get the property back immediately,” said Degnan.
What Gotlieb did not know at the time was that she had fallen victim to a growing crime called “Deed Fraud.” A simple Google search shows examples of deed fraud taking place all over the country.
“There are so many different stories of how deed fraud occurs,” said Jesi Wolnik, a real estate attorney who studies and works on deed fraud cases. Wolnik says one study from a title company estimated that 90 percent of deed fraud is carried out by family members or friends of the victim. The remaining 10 percent of cases involve criminals who target the victims.
“They’re creating fake documents. They’re recording them,” said Wolnik. “They’re obviously very successful, or they would not be doing this.”
Degnan was able to get Gotlieb’s home back after sending a demand letter to Zillow. A spokesperson for Zillow responded to Arizona’s Family Investigates with the following statement:
“Unfortunately, in 2019, Zillow was made aware of an identity theft related to a home we purchased, so we withdrew the sale and returned the deed to the family.”
Meantime, Scottsdale Police detectives were making headway in figuring out who sold the house and how. In December of 2021, they arrested 30-year-old Vicente Anzu. He was charged with theft, forgery, and identity theft in connection to this case. Anzu is a resident of California. He was somehow able to impersonate a deceased 84-year-old when he presented himself as the owner of the home.
“The criminal had an ID, and it showed that he was born in 1988. My dad bought the house in 1978. Nobody put that together,” said Gotlieb. And the fact that Anzu reportedly signed notarized documents in California helped detectives.
“If he would have signed here, he would have never been caught. But in California, the two notaries took fingerprints. Here we don’t take fingerprints,” said Gotlieb.
Gotlieb managed to get the house back, but her father’s belongings were long gone. According to the Scottsdale Police report into the incident, Anzu, or a co-conspirator, told the real estate agents involved in the sale to get rid of everything in the home.
“All of our family pictures were gone. They tossed them. So it was, it was hard,” said Gotlieb.
“Who really would get rid of every family mementos, medals, certificates, photos? Things that can’t be replaced?” said Wolnik, who just designed a course on deed fraud for real estate agents. She says she submitted the course to the Arizona Department of Real Estate. David Degnan says Debi Gotlieb’s persistence and knowledge of how real estate transactions occur made a big difference in the case.
“I think the luck was that she was also a realtor too. And that she was able to see what’s coming on the market. And when you see your property coming on the market, it’s kind of a scary thing,” said Degnan.
With the incident behind her, Gotlieb says she is still frustrated that nobody along the chain of sale spotted the multiple red flags.
“I, today, could get a fake ID and go record a deed and own your house,” said Gotlieb. “You would think that there was something in place to protect an owner. There is nothing in place.”
Somebody out to sell that ‘deed’ protection crap.
Make sure Xiden gets his cut.
In my county there is a program that will contact the property owner if any change of any kind is requested to be made in ownership, loans, etc.
Edit:
The program is county operated. No fee.
Simple problem that is easy enough to solve with a baseball bat.
Title theft is a deadly game. Sooner or later they’re going to steal from the wrong man, and everybody involved either through malfeasance or intentionally, well, it’ll make a good movie.
Bkmrk
Deed theft,
I got a bill of sale,,,
A house being vacant for four years provides an opportunity for these fraudsters. Keep it occupied by renters if you own it but not occupying it yourself. Possession is important (though admittedly not conclusive).
Yep. One day, they’ll pull this stunt with the home of some mafioso.
I would have a hard time not exacting revenge on such a criminal.
This is something the state legislature needs to get involved in. There has to be cross checks or notifications or other procedures that can safeguard owners.
This should be on the title company to verify deed ownership and all powers of attorney involved in the property.
What’s the point of Title Insurance if the property is being put up for sale and not just stolen and occupied? I have always seen it required when taking out a mortgage to purchase (even though it seems to be mostly unnecessary). Is Title Insurance a scam or are the buyers just paying cash and avoiding all that? Doesn’t make sense.
Most mortgages are sold in bundles on the secondary market.
That market has a bunch of “check the boxes” requirements and title insurance is one of those.
As I understand it the title insurance protects the buyer if the title is ever challenged—it does not protect the seller and would not be helpful if a future seller obtained the property by fraud.
(If someone has different info let us know.)
Title Lock is a business that says it monitors title transfers and notifies its clients if any changes in title are detected.
But I don’t see how it helps because once title transfer is recorded, it’s too late to stop. Hence, long episodes of court battles are ahead.
It is reported that judges tend to roll their eyes back when presented with title fraud. It is said their retirement plans are linked to it.
I think its as simple as if a document is recorded is done, an email is sent. After the fact but useful.
I think its as simple as if a document is recorded is done, an email is sent. After the fact but useful.
They match the ‘names’ that you choose for the email to be sent.
as in
SMITH JOHN
The benefit of title lock would be that fraudsters are easier to catch soon after the fact rather than later.
Fraud is a criminal act—it helps in later civil action if the fraudster is in jail for the act at the time.
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