The cases of shell companies using variety of techniques to seize properties from helpless owners are on the rise.
According to NY Times, this is a form of deed theft that many have easily fallen as victims. After all they are said to be taking advantage of the confidentiality given to shell companies to rent out vacated properties until they are busted or sell them to third parties as fast as possible. And what happens to the victims? They lose their properties without even knowing who the predator was.
These shell companies thrive in Manhattan where real estate is prized. They are also rampant in Brooklyn neighborhoods where sales have quick turnarounds.
According to Jennifer Sinton, a lawyer with South Brooklyn Legal Services, who is helping one of the victims of these schemes reclaim her home, "Sham LLCs are a huge problem in terms of their lack of transparency, in terms of who is behind the property and who is behind these schemes."
On the other hand, the city's Department of Finance said that of the 120 cases, most of them are hard to uncover because of the role of LLCs.
The most vulnerable victims are older and disabled adults who can easily be tricked to into signing over the documents thinking that they are getting financial assistance. There are even cases when the thieves forge signatures in the deeds. Usually, thieves target homes that need repair. In addition, it was reported that thieves have been increasingly targeting Black and Hispanics, those who below to the poor and middle class.
According to NY Times, a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law that was published last year reflected that those schemes inexplicably affected black and Hispanic homeowners. According to a lawyer Jomo Gamal Thomas, who has worked on several cases of deed fraud, there is no guarantee that you will get your money back.
