Stealing Your Home From Underneath You - the Growing Problem of Title Fraud

Imagine this. A Canadian homeowner - a successful professional with a lovely home in a nice neighbourhood - arrives home after work one day to find a "For Sale" sign on his lawn. Imagining that it may be a practical joke, he asks his wife if she's unhappy with the house! But his wife has no idea why the sign is there, or who put it up. It turns out that the couple are the victims of title fraud - a crime that's on a worrisome rise here in Canada. How is it possible? While there are several variations on the crime, the basics are usually the same. The fraudster will target a home and falsify legal documents to create a convincing paper trail to "prove" their ownership of the home. They then proceed to mortgage the home and disappear with the money. Often, the rightful owners will have no idea what's going on until a financial institution tracks them down to demand payments on a loan they never knew existed. In some cases, the fraudsters have actually stolen their identity: an especially difficult twist for the homeowner, who must also clear his/her name. The easy access to electronic data -- on both people and property -- may be contributing to the rise in title fraud, which is costing homeowners and financial institutions millions of dollars each year. And though it's a serious challenge to the lenders, it can be financially devastating to the homeowner. Fortunately, Canadians have access to some protection against title fraud. A growing number of Canadian homeowners are purchasing "title insurance": a product that offers some specific protections against title fraud and other potential pitfalls: