American citizens who own vacant property parcels are being targeted by criminals in an identity theft scheme.
“Criminals create fake identifications (drivers licenses and/or U.S. passports), Outlook email addresses, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) generated phone numbers and use them to impersonate landowners,” the FBI said in a June 16 public service announcement alert.
The malicious actors “can obtain property parcel owner’s personally identifiable information through county or state public websites, data brokers, stolen account information, phishing schemes, or purchased from the dark web or hackers.”
The scammers approach a local realtor or title company while posing as a legitimate parcel owner and sell the properties, according to the FBI. In one instance, a fake deed was used to convince realtors of the sale’s validity….