Fake property deed / home title fraud alert scam — impersonates county recorder or "Home Title Lock" services, claims victim's deed was illegally transferred or altered, harvests PII or charges fake "deed restoration" fees; FBI IC3 2023: real estate fraud $446M; AARP: 70% of victims are seniors

Fraudulent emails impersonating county recorder offices or commercial "Home Title Lock" monitoring services, claiming the victim's property deed has been illegally transferred, altered, or filed by a third party — then driving to a PII harvest form (address, SSN, date of birth) or a fake "deed restoration" or "title monitoring" payment page. Key facts: (1) FBI IC3 2023: real estate fraud cost Americans $446M — deed and title fraud was the fastest-growing subcategory, up 40% YoY in reported incidents; AARP: 70% of deed-fraud victims are seniors, targeted because they are more likely to own their home outright with high equity; (2) Deed fraud is a genuine crime: criminals file forged quit claim deeds at county recorder offices to "transfer" a property title without the owner's knowledge, then attempt to take out loans against the property or sell it — but scam emails exploit fear of this crime to harvest payment or PII rather than actually committing deed fraud themselves; (3) County recorder offices never send unsolicited email alerts about deed changes to property owners — their notifications, when issued, arrive by certified mail with the document number and official government letterhead; (4) Legitimate title insurance companies (First American, Stewart, Old Republic, Fidelity National) communicate only when a policy has been issued, not via cold-email alerts about potential deed changes. Warning signs: no government domain in sender, urgency about "illegal transfer," request for SSN/address to "verify ownership," link to a non-governmental deed protection or monitoring service, no document number or county reference.