Twelve states now have laws written specifically to stop deed theft, up from seven in April, according to a quarterly scorecard from EquityProtect reported by HousingWire on Oct. 5. Alabama’s and Maryland’s laws took effect on Oct. 1, and Arizona’s on Sept. 12. The same count found 29 states with no dedicated statute.
EquityProtect sells a service it describes as a home title lock, so its tally is a vendor’s count. The trend it describes matches what title companies report.
What the title industry is seeing
The American Land Title Association surveyed 245 title insurance professionals in 40 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands in spring 2026. Fifty-nine percent of firms said they saw at least one seller impersonation attempt in the prior calendar year, up from 28 percent in the association’s 2024 study. The share reporting an attempt in the prior month rose from 19 percent to 45 percent.
The losses can be large. One firm in four that reported an attempt also reported a paid claim, and among those that disclosed average costs, half put them above $100,000, ALTA found.
Which properties get targeted
The schemes favor property whose owner is not around to notice. ALTA found vacant land remained the top target, while properties with absentee owners, properties owned free and clear and properties tied to recently deceased owners were also common targets. The leading warning signs were sellers who avoided meetings or calls and asked for mail-away signings or a notary of their own choosing.
The FBI described the same pattern in a June 16 public service announcement. Criminals build fake driver’s licenses or passports, email accounts and internet phone numbers, contact a local agent and title company, and try to sell a vacant parcel without the owner’s knowledge. In one case, the bureau said, a fictitious deed was used to make the sale look legitimate.
See what a private, off-market sale of your home would look like →
What the new laws do
The laws differ widely. Arizona’s SB 1479 makes knowingly recording a false property document a felony, requires notaries to take a thumbprint for deeds and requires photo identification to record a deed in person, HousingWire reported. It also repealed a provision that let forged deeds ripen into valid title after five years.
Alabama’s Property Protection Act of 2026 requires seller identity checks in higher-risk transactions and lets the state securities commission void fraudulent sales, according to the same report. Tennessee now requires a sworn affidavit from anyone who prepares a deed, and Virginia requires settlement agents to verify identity, both since July 1.
Maryland’s law is narrower than first proposed. As introduced, House Bill 130 would have created a deed fraud crime and a prevention grant fund. The version signed as Chapter 399 creates a task force to study deed fraud, which must report to the General Assembly by July 1, 2028, according to the Maryland General Assembly’s bill record.
Elsewhere, bills stalled. Pennsylvania’s House Bill 1406 passed the state House 203-0 in June 2025 and has not moved since clearing a Senate committee that September, and a South Carolina bill that passed the state Senate was still in a House committee when the session ended, HousingWire reported.
What an owner can do now
The FBI advises owners to check whether the local office that records deeds offers alerts when a document is filed under their name, and to review their title insurance for protection against forgery. Buyers, it says, can send a certified letter to the owner’s address on the tax record to confirm the seller is real. ALTA also offers its 49 and 49.1 endorsements, which add title insurance protection against certain losses from deed or mortgage forgery for new and existing owners.
In Connecticut, deeds are recorded in the land records kept by each town clerk, so the question goes to Town Hall. Westport’s land records are kept by its Town Clerk.
Owners of an empty lot, a house they do not live in or a late parent’s house fit the profile ALTA describes. If a relative has died and the house sits empty, our guide to selling an inherited house covers who can sign and when.
The FBI’s own figures are broader than deed theft. Its Internet Crime Complaint Center counted 12,368 real estate fraud complaints in 2025 and $275.1 million in reported losses, up from $173.6 million in 2024, but that category also covers investment, rental and timeshare fraud. Complainants aged 60 and older reported $123.7 million of the 2025 losses.
Sources
- HousingWire, More states crack down on deed theft as real estate fraud rises, Oct. 5, 2026
- American Land Title Association, Seller Impersonation Fraud Study, September 2026
- American Land Title Association, ALTA 49 and 49.1 endorsements, accessed Oct. 2026
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, Protect your property from illegal sales through parcel owner impersonation, June 16, 2026
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report, April 2026
- Maryland General Assembly, House Bill 130, Task Force to Study Deed Fraud, effective Oct. 1, 2026
- Town of Westport, Land records, Town Clerk, accessed Oct. 2026
