It is easy to do too & is done in many facets of Real Estate. Fraud? Scams? I am reminded of the time I had a couple move into a vacant home scheduled to be demolished with the land to be developed into townhomes. They had decorated the wails, had furniture and the kicker? A signed lease by the owner. Their intent was to stay there for years until I could get them out or buy them out. They had all the answers too. The one answer he didn't have? I worked for the company that owned the property. This was my backyard. He refused to get out. I call the police. I already knew what police were going to tell me i.e., it is a civil action. I said look, we have plans to build hundreds of units and transform this neighborhood. Police says: we surely need it as it was a homeless area. I further stated we had the cooperation of the mayor on down (we did) I could arrange a phone call. Police looked at me, then the trespasser and says: We will be back this afternoon. Have all your stuff and you gone by then. They left!

While it might be prevalent right now, it's nothing new.  Back when I was a new agent, a colleague of mine listed an actual condo... she marketed it, she sold it, and arrived at the closing table, before the title company uncovered the fact that they were not the owners... they were the tenants.

It's because of this colleague's close-call, that I always check the county records to make certain that I'm dealing with the official owner of any property that I list.

This is happening up here in Alaska. We had 3 tries in our office in 1 week. We caught them all, but it is because we are a small community and we know so many of the owners.  So, they went to Realtors in Anchorage and Soldotna and listed them. We called those agents and let them know and they were deleted from MLS.

Also asking for ID doesn't solve the problem because they have fake ID's that look pretty darn convincing. 

We have a trooper working on this and can send them the ID's to verify which is nice. 

They also have fraudulent notaries.

This was happening in Hawaii too!

Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® - yes, I have been warned and posted about a similar fraud scam a few weeks ago. It's a pity. We all need to raise awareness. 

Guess it's time we start pulling background checks on owners and when meeting have owners bring two (2) forms of ID... Oh maybe we should start thinking about having a DNA test. LOL

That's horrible!  i had not heard about this before your Q&A.  I guess we will need to ask for proof of ownership (as well as their identification) ... sad that people have so much time to waste.  Of course, if it is working for them, I guess it will only get worse.  Thanks for the warning!  Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® 

This scam has been around for years. Verify and reverify! If suspicious , a title company can be of assistance.

Thank you for the scam alert Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® 
I think "well below market value" would send up some red flags in San Diego 😂

First I've heard of it Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® I'll check my MLS site today

Our broker warned us of this a few days ago, two of our agents were approached by this scammer.

I hadn't heard of this but, thank you for the heads-up, Hella!

Hi Hella... I've heard of the scam and we had a warning in our brokerage. Don't remember seeing anything from the MLS, however.

Our mls, which may share information with the mls of which Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® is a member, posted a warning every time you logged on for a week or so a few weeks ago.

Yes, I am aware. We share the same MLS. 

A deep dive into title and vetting needs to be a standard protocol for all agents.

Title search up front might help avoid this if there are any questions about ownership. I haven't seen our mls mention it, but they might have. I have heard of similar scams, but the title company was involved in the scam.

Part of our job is to be sure the owners are who they say they are. If things don't match up - we should stop & start to verify.

How do they close?  The patriot act requires a photo ID at closing.  Another reason for buyers to have title insurance I guess.

What is it they are attempting to do ? Are the just trying to create chaos or to steal some money 

Yes, this happened to someone in my office. Fortunately it was caught.

We have been notified by our company attorneys of this scam! They'll try anything and everything, won't they?

Yes it's not just on vacant land and I have been aware of title theft for quite some time.  A couple of attorneys  in town give presentations on this issue time to time.

As a vacant land owner, my name and address is shown on the deed and in the county tax records.  My signature is on the deed.

My land is actually owned by an LLC, which is registered with the SOS, and has its own website, email address, and my phone number.

The LLC management would need to pass a signed notarized Resolution to sell the land.

The LLC website would include a notice of the land for sale.

My website has strong 2FA security so a hacker cannot break in and change my website contact information to impersonate me.

My email account is protected by strong 2FA security so a hacker cannot break in and impersonate my email.

Cell phone numbers are less secure and subject to SIM swap attacks by hackers so are not reliable for identity verification.

Colorado also now has digital ID/DL cards that can be verified.

Use multiple forms of identification, mailing address, paycheck, utility bills, etc. to Know Your Customer (KYC).

You can send a mailing to the seller's home address that includes a random 6-digit number (one time passcode OTP). They must respond with the 6-digit number to confirm they received the mail.

I hear about this scam in the last few days, to many scams out there

My MLS did warn us (I use the same MLS as you) and I found it fascinating that there is this new scam out there.

Manhattan doesn't have an MLS (surprising, I know, but it's been a contentious issue between the brokerages here). Vacant land is pretty rare- so if a lot comes up in a strong location- it's the talk of the town. I don't know if this would flush out the fraudster, but I would hope so. 

I would expect a Title Search would spot the fraud and Title Insurance would protect the buyer.  Any sale without Title Insurance is insane.