It's easy to understand how to steal a car or a diamond ring. But
a house? That's a little harder to wrap one's head around. Yet every day we see
or hear reports of con artists attempting to steal people’s homes and
properties. This is a particularly bad problem in Brooklyn because real estate
prices make the crime very attractive. Most of the victims are elderly, or
out-of-town members of a deceased owner’s family.
Today's
New York Law Journal reports that one Carl Smith of Brooklyn has just been
sentenced to prison time for stealing multiple properties. Let's look at what
he did, and how you can protect yourself from scams like this.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, “This
defendant shamefully stole houses and other property from their rightful owners
by using forged documents, engaging in deceit and committing outright fraud. He
did so solely to exploit the lucrative real estate market in Brooklyn,”
Smith, 50 years old, stole a Fort Greene Brownstone at 139
Vanderbilt Avenue, between Myrtle and Park Avenues by forging, back-dating and
filing a fraudulent deed. He looked up the prior owner and found her death
record. All of that is public information. Smith did the same thing with two
Bedford-Stuyvesant properties at 45 Lewis Avenue and 64 Hart Street. He
actually sold one of the properties twice, to two different buyers.
All this happened in 2011 and 2013, but Smith had done this before.
In 2003 he used the same techniques to steal another Bed-Stuy property at 543
Lexington Avenue. He couldn't evict the tenants, though, and he was never
prosecuted.
Smith finally got caught because he couldn't produce clear title
histories when he attempted to close on the fraudulent sales. To make matters
worse, he pretended to be an attorney for the owners.
Smith was convicted of grand larceny, criminal possession of
forged instruments and unlawful practice of law. The judge sentenced him nine
to eighteen years in prison.
So how can you protect yourself from scams like this? Sign up for
New York City's free Recorded
Document Notification Program. Once you sign up, you will get an
email any time someone files a deed or other document against your property. If
the filing is genuine, you don't have to do anything more. But if the filing is
fraudulent, you can take action before any damage is done.
You can access the Document Notification Program on our firm's website, www.LevyNau.com. Click on the Links tab and scroll down to the Safeguard Your Property Title button.
As always, come
in, call of click for help or more information. We’re here for you.
Call, visit or click for more information:
Levy & Nau P.C. / attorneys at law
844-LEVY-LAW or
718-622-8149
854 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn NY 11238
www.LevyNau.com
