Deed Fraud: Could Someone Sell Your Florida Land Without You Knowing?
Scammers are posing as owners and selling land they don't own, and vacant land is their favorite target. Here is how they pick a property, how to spot it early, and what a careful broker does before your land is ever listed.
Real estate fraud, by the numbers
- •$275 million+ lost to real estate fraud in 2025 (FBI IC3)
- •Up from $173 million in 2024
- •62% of reported title fraud cases involved vacant land
Sources: FBI IC3 via REALTOR® News (Apr. 2026); NAR 2025 Deed & Title Fraud Survey.
You own a lot in Florida. Maybe you bought it years ago to build on, or inherited it, or hold it as an investment from out of state. It's paid off and you rarely think about it. That makes it exactly what a deed fraud ring is looking for.
A scammer doesn’t need your keys or your signature. He needs your name off the tax roll, a forged ID and a broker who doesn’t ask questions. My job is to be the broker who asks.
How Deed Fraud Works
The most common version is called seller impersonation. A scammer pulls your name, parcel and mailing address from public county records. He contacts a real estate agent, says he's the owner, and asks to list your property, usually cheap, for a quick cash sale. He signs the paperwork with a forged ID in front of a fake or careless notary. A buyer wires the purchase money, the scammer disappears with it, and a deed in the buyer's name is recorded against your land.
You may not find out until the new “owner” starts clearing the lot, or you get a tax bill that no longer has your name on it. Getting your title back generally means hiring a Florida real estate attorney and going to court. It is fixable, but it is slow, stressful and expensive, and it is far easier to stop before closing than to unwind afterward.
The Numbers Behind the Warning
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center counted more than 12,000 real estate fraud complaints and over $275 million in losses in 2025, up from about $173 million in 2024. And when the National Association of REALTORS® surveyed its members about title fraud, vacant land stood out:
| Property type | Share of reported title fraud cases |
|---|---|
| Vacant land | 62% |
| Detached single-family homes | 16% |
| Owner-occupied homes | 12% |
Source: NAR 2025 Deed & Title Fraud Survey, as reported in REALTOR® News, October 22, 2025.
Is Your Property on a Scammer's List?
Brokers who take fraud seriously treat a property as high risk when two or more of these are true. Check yours:
It’s vacant land, a rental or a second home
Nobody living there means nobody to notice a sign, a showing or a survey crew.
It’s paid off
No mortgage or liens means no lender watching the title, and the whole sale price goes to whoever closes.
Your tax bill goes somewhere else
A mailing address in another city or state tells a scammer you aren’t nearby.
You’ve owned it a long time, quietly
Years with no sale, refinance or permit suggests an owner who rarely checks in.
Two or more doesn't mean you've been targeted. It means your property is easy to target, and it's worth ten minutes to put the protections below in place.
The Impostor's Script
Fraudsters usually find an agent online, one they've never met. This is how they behave, and it's why a careful broker gets suspicious:
The invisible seller
Won’t meet in person or on a live video call. Always traveling, ill or working overseas.
Text, email and WhatsApp only
Rarely answers a phone call.
In a hurry
Wants to close in under three weeks and doesn’t care about commission or fees.
Priced to move
Wants your property listed well below market to attract a fast cash buyer.
No sign, please
Asks the agent not to put a sign on the property, so neighbors and you are never alerted.
If I ask you about the shed on your lot and there is no shed, I already know you are the owner. Real owners laugh. Impostors guess.
Four Things to Do This Week
Turn on the clerk’s fraud alert
Most Florida county clerks will email you, free, when anything is recorded under your name. Search your clerk's site for “property fraud alert.”
Keep your mailing address current
Update it with the county property appraiser so every tax bill, and every verification letter, actually reaches you.
Find your owner’s title policy
It came with your closing papers. Know what it covers before you ever need it.
Look yourself up
A few times a year, search your address on the big listing sites. A listing you didn't authorize is your alarm bell.
Land you never visit is land a stranger can sell. Spend ten minutes signing up for the clerk’s fraud alert. It is the cheapest insurance in Florida real estate.
Selling? What We Do to Prove It's Really You
When you list land with Linton Global Solutions, especially from out of state, we verify that you are the owner before anything is signed or advertised. It protects you, and it protects your buyer. Here is exactly what to expect:
We write to you at the tax-bill address
A letter goes to the owner of record at the mailing address in county records, asking you to confirm you want to sell. An impostor never sees it. You do.
We find your phone number ourselves
From an independent source, not the number the “seller” gave us, and we call it.
We ask you something only the owner knows
A detail about the property that isn’t in public records, sometimes about a feature that doesn’t exist. You’ll know the answer, or know there isn’t one.
We ask for a document only you would have
A prior title insurance policy, a tax bill as it was mailed to you, or a survey.
We send the video call link
We meet you face to face on video, on our own link. We never join a link a seller sends.
The title company picks the notary
Or you sign through a vetted remote online notarization (RON) service. No mystery notary overseas.
For a real owner this takes a day or two, and most owners tell us they're glad someone checked. An impostor slows down, changes the story, or vanishes. If an agent ever wants to list your land without doing some version of this, find another agent.
Red Flags at the Closing Table
The title company is the last line of defense. These stop a closing cold:
Money routed to a stranger
Wiring instructions sending sale proceeds to someone not on title, or to a bank far from where the seller lives.
Documents that don’t hold up
Blurry or edited IDs and passports, or signatures that don’t match your earlier recorded deeds.
A notary nobody can verify
A notary said to be at a U.S. embassy, or a foreign attorney, that the title company hasn’t checked in advance.
If It Already Happened
- Call the title company named on the fraudulent deed, and your county clerk, the same day.
- Report it to local police and to the FBI at ic3.gov. Speed matters: in one case reported by NAR, a fast report let the FBI freeze a wire of more than $449,000.
- Call your owner's title insurer if you have a policy.
- Hire a Florida real estate attorney. Restoring your title generally takes a court action to quiet title.
Key Takeaways
- ✓In seller impersonation, a scammer poses as you, lists your property with a real agent and takes the buyer’s money.
- ✓Vacant land was 62% of reported title fraud cases in NAR’s 2025 survey; paid-off, out-of-state, long-held parcels are the easiest targets.
- ✓Real estate fraud losses topped $275 million in 2025, up from about $173 million in 2024 (FBI IC3).
- ✓Sign up for your county clerk’s free property fraud alert and keep your tax-bill mailing address current.
- ✓A careful broker verifies the owner by mail, phone, video and documents before listing; expect it, and be wary of any agent who skips it.
- ✓If a fraudulent deed is recorded, report it the same day and call a Florida real estate attorney.
Article Summary
Deed fraud, most often through seller impersonation, lets a scammer sell property he doesn't own by posing as the owner, using a forged ID and a compromised notary, and collecting the buyer's money. Vacant land is the main target: 62% of reported title fraud cases in NAR's 2025 survey, with paid-off, long-held parcels owned from out of state the easiest marks. Florida owners can protect themselves with their county clerk's free fraud alert, a current mailing address and an owner's title policy. When selling, expect a careful broker like Michael R. Linton of Linton Global Solutions to verify ownership by mail, phone, video and documents before listing.
About Michael R. Linton
Michael R. Linton, NCREA, CREIPS, REALTOR®, is a Florida-licensed commercial real estate broker (Florida Broker #BK703722) and the founder of Linton Global Solutions and Linton Global Technologies, the company behind REOMind.ai. With 39 years in commercial real estate, he represents owners selling land, investment and commercial property across Orlando, Tampa, Daytona Beach and the I-4 corridor, and he verifies every remote seller before a listing goes live.
Primary Florida Office
Michael Linton, NCREA, CREIPS, REALTOR®
Linton Global Solutions
Cell: (312) 612-1031
Email: mike@lintonglobal.com
LintonGlobal.com
Disclosure: This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Questions about a recorded deed, title or a quiet-title action belong with a Florida real estate attorney. Linton Global Solutions is a Florida-licensed real estate brokerage, not a law firm or title insurer.
Keep reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Works Cited
- Block, Eliana. "Online Real Estate Fraud Climbed to $275M in 2025, FBI Says." REALTOR® News, 13 Apr. 2026, www.nar.realtor/news. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.
- Dittmann Tracey, Melissa. "‘Title Pirates’ Are on the Prowl, With Vacant Properties Most at Risk." REALTOR® News, 22 Oct. 2025, www.nar.realtor/news. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.
- eXp Realty. "Deed Fraud Toolkit." exptoolkit.com/deedfraud. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)." www.ic3.gov. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.
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