The advent of technology has done much to make our life easier, especially that of the robbers. Yes, you've read it right! Robbery through the Internet is the new threat of property owners nowadays. This is such a nightmare for Sybil Patrick, a 79-year-old former nurse, who just had her house sold without her knowledge.
Patrick has been visiting her house in Harlem and noticed that the locks were changed and her things were no longer in the same place the way they were when she left. However, confirmation of robbery was evident when her neighbor next door, a superintendent, asked why was she still there knowing that she had already sold it.
"I told you I was never, ever going to sell," she recalled. But, it was too late for her to save her property as it was already sold a year earlier for approximately $750,000.
This sad plight of Patrick is only one of the 30 related cases of deed fraud in Manhattan. Since everything is almost just a click away, confidential information can be readily accessed by hackers and online fraud.
Realtor reported that in New York City alone, one can already gain access to copies of deeds, mortgages, primary addresses, emails and phone numbers, document with owner's signatures, lawyer's names, amount of the property, and other confidential info, even Social Security numbers and birth dates.
Swindlers impersonate the owner while they make a new, fake deed and maneuver everything. Before you know it, your property has already been transferred to someone you never met but is now the new owner.
Some may have asked why it has to reach this far? But, investigators in Manhattan found out that this is an unintended consequence of putting the document online for transparency purposes which has become the practice of local real-estate markets.
"This crime has always happened, but it's been made much more prolific by having records online. It had a noble purpose and was a good idea, but in fact has become one-stop shopping for fraud," said Atty. David Szuchman, executive assistant, district attorney and Atty. Cyrus Vance Jr., chief of the investigation division of Manhattan District.
What these swindlers do is to drop the prices of homes below the market values to entice the buyers to get it as soon as possible via cash. Realtor also shared that according to the prosecutors in Chicago and Detroit, as to Patrick's house, swindlers would sell it beyond $1 million.
About 120 deed fraud cases are currently being investigated by the New York City Department of Finance since last year. The remedy they can resort to for now is to immediately notify property owners in case someone will file a new deed for their property.
Realtor reports say that the alleged mastermind of the fraudulent sale of Patrick's house named Kanwarjeet Malik was arrested but pleaded not guilty. However, Christopher Cable, Carrie Stevens and Kajetan Belza, Malik's co-defendant pleaded guilty and are sentenced to imprisonment for a minimum of three years.
Patrick now has her house back while the buyers will be repaid by the title insurance company. After this stressful crime, Patrick has become a victim of, she doesn't visit the house too often. She bought this Harlem brownstone for $110,000 in 1989. "I don't know if it's still even worth it," she said.
This goes to show that Patrick might not keep the house for fear to be in trouble again.