Land Fraudulently Sold In Guilford In Property Title Scam: Police

GUILFORD, CT — The Guilford Police Department is warning residents about property title fraud, something they say is a growing trend across the country.

On Jan. 1, Guilford police received a complaint about an incident in which a realtor was contacted by a scammer posing as a property owner in town looking to sell land, police said in a Facebook post on Friday.

Because the land was close to another home, the realtor contacted that neighbor to ask if they were interested in the property, police noted.

"As it turned out, the neighbors were interested in purchasing the land and they worked with attorneys to settle the deal," police said. "Due to the fact that the rightful landowner was residing out of state for part of the year, business was conducted over the phone. The sale was made and when the new owners contacted another adjoining neighbor, it was discovered that the whole transaction was fraudulent."

Detectives worked with federal partners and were able to freeze the account the money was wired to for the land purchase, police said, which prevented the criminals from gaining access to the funds.

"But where there is one, there will be more. Criminals of this type of crime are very savvy and will continue to commit title frauds," police said.

Police said further details will not be released due to an ongoing investigation.

Residents can register for alerts if someone tries to change their property title, police added.

Learn more about title or deed theft, and ways to protect yourself and your family from these types of scams.