Tracking fraudulent activities in real estate transactions
Shunnar, Thaer & Michael Barry
Land transaction fraud is a serious problem in many parts of the world, and it occurs under different land administration systems. In general, property transaction fraud falls into two categories; fraud by forgery and fraud by impersonation. Racketeers have three general motives to engage in real estate fraud: (1) to further other criminal activities, (2) for direct profit, and (3) to shelter money derived from other criminal activities. This paper discusses fraud specific to real estate. Many attributes of the real estate sector make it prone to criminal investment. Real estate is a high value, sizeable economic sector. However, it lacks transparency; each real estate object is unique, it provides a safe investing environment, and speculation in real estate is a tradition. Fraud in real estate is widespread in developed and developing countries, and in the former many of the fraudulent schemes are enabled by technology. The paper describes some of the schemes used to commit property frauds and the patterns that might be identified in a land registry database. Several indicators are used to identify a fraud case. These indicators may be related to the real estate object, the owner, the financier, the financing method or the purchase sum.
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