This is a scary article.
Fortunately it’s not too common at this point but there is big money in it for the crooks. You thought identity theft was bad? How about someone steals your identity then uses that to sign over your mortgage to them and sells your house out from under you? Ouch! Or, maybe you are struggling to make your payments and sell your house to someone who is offered to "help" you out. Only problem is they buy your house with a fake/stolen identity which results in you losing your home and the bank losing the money. Ouch again.
Stay vigilant is the best advice. And be sure to protect your identity. The FTC has a good program called "Deter, Detect, Defend" and has some great tips online. More tips at Privacyrights.org and Yourcreditadvisor.com. This is a very widespread crime and I highly encourage you to take 5 or 10 minutes and read through some of these resources. Some of this stuff is obvious and some not so much. Educating yourself could save you A LOT of headache should someone decide to target you.
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Thanks for this public service announcement.
I had my identity stolen at least twice, courtesy of the State of California’s personnel server breaches. Second time I went to check my credit report, I failed the challenge question asking where I had a mortgage. None of the answers fit so afterward I called TransUnion only to discover someone in New Hampshire had taken out a mortgage using my identity. They were making the payments too, which meant for awhile I owned a house in New England and didn’t even know it!