A survey from 2025 shows that deed fraud in Arizona reached $50 million! The most likely target is vacant land. Having received such a "referral" from another agent who was retiring, I can speak from experience. The agent gave me the name and phone number, which wasn't local, of the owner of a parcel of land in Scottsdale that was valued at $750,000 at the time.
After researching the owner of the land, I figured out quickly, that whoever was trying to sell this land was NOT the owner. Locating a phone number for the current owner of the land, I introduced myself and told him that someone was trying to sell his land. HIs comment, "They can't sell it wintout the deed." I explained to him that someone could sell a piece of land even without the printed copy of a deed as that was public information. I can search and locate deeds to property in Arizona. I gave the man name and contact information in case he had any questions.
Texting the number for the fraudster, I told him that he was not the owner and could not sell the land. My clues that this person was a fraudster even without researching the parcel information:
The phone number didn't have the number of digits to be a US phone number.
The caller never called me back.
The caller communicated by text only.
And there was no identifying information provided that he was who he said he was.
Vacant land is the most common property type for deed fraud as it's largely unmonitored, but any type of property is suscetible. A way to stop this is to log into EarlyAlert and register for notification should someone try to transfer a deed for property that you own! Protect yourself! Visit: https://earlyalert.azre.gov/
