Florida is the perfect location for such crimes. The Sunshine State has thousands of homeowners who live in the state only part time. The owners may live in another state in the summer and come to Florida in the winter for the mild climate. The state also has a lot of absentee owners who own property only for investment purposes and rent it out. Some of the investment property consists only of empty lots. Many of these seasonally occupied homes sit vacant throughout a good portion of the year, making them great targets for deed forgery crimes. You would probably notice if someone tried to move into your home; after all, you actually live there. But if you had a vacant house that you only used a few months of the year, you might not notice if the deed were forged and the home sold until it was too late and the new “owner” had already moved in. This has happened hundreds of times in the last few years in Florida, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

At the moment, there seems to be little to protect homeowners from this scam. Schemes such as foreclosure help are usually uncovered fairly quickly as defrauded owners who are facing foreclosure generally report the crimes to the police rather quickly. With deed forgery, some of these crimes can go uncovered for months, or even years, if the owners aren’t particularly attentive. Florida simply has no checks in place to verify that a deed filed with a county is authentic. Buyers can hedge their bets by purchasing title insurance when they buy a home, and they are strongly urged to conduct a thorough title search before making their purchase.

In some cases, even when buyers have purchased title insurance, they have found that it can take years to recover any funds put down on property that was stolen through forgery. The authorities have little else to recommend at this time, so buyers are urged to be careful when making a purchase in Florida.

For now, it would appear, the criminals are winning.