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UPDATE: Since that story aired, WINK News has learned that the Elseroads have paid $ 7,800 for the Cape Coral property, while the current estimate is $ 8,200. David Elseroad said he paid taxes on the property for the year and is still hoping to move to the area but hasn’t received much information on what to do next.
Imagine having your property stolen right below you while you are on the other side of the world. This often involves identity fraud, forged signatures, fabricated notaries and a selling price that is too good to be true.
It’s a growing problem in southwest Florida, and the Cape Coral Police Department says it caught a man who was involved in a plot to sell land he doesn’t own.
The CCPD released information Thursday describing a six-month investigation by its financial crime division and announced the arrest of Edwin Swanson of Houston, Texas.
US marshals arrested Swanson on July 14th. He is accused of posing as a landowner and selling their Cape Coral property throughout 2020. WINK News was unable to reach him by phone for comment.
A woman from France told WINK News that this happened to her late last year and we are working to confirm if Swanson is connected. Now she’s struggling to get it back.
In November 2020, Michele Vidal managed to discover a crook who forged her documents and signed them without her knowledge. Now, technically speaking, she no longer owns her properties in Port Charlotte and Cape Coral.
“I couldn’t have imagined having this problem one day,” Vidal said of Zoom from her living room in France. WINK News has translated the interview from French.
Vidal said she only found out because she likes to pay her property taxes on time but never received her tax bill.
“I didn’t receive my tax,” said Vidal. “So I immediately called my agent and said there was a problem.”
She paid nearly $ 100,000 for land in Cape Coral and Port Charlotte in 2014. She hoped to be able to build one day.
“I like Florida a lot,” said Vidal. “I told myself that one day I might have the opportunity to live there. Not tomorrow morning, but maybe one day. “
But in August 2020, someone else sold the land to two unsuspecting couples outside the state for a bargain price.
The Conways bought the property in Port Charlotte for $ 20,700. The Elseroads bought the Cape Coral property for only $ 7,800.
“You see, it’s far, far from reality,” said Vidal.
Real estate attorney Kara Jursinski-Murphy, unrelated to this case, says at least 10 others have come through her office recently.
“We see this quite often with vacant properties, typically with a foreign seller or a foreign property owner,” said Jursinski-Murphy. “That causes a lot of problems. And unfortunately, people don’t monitor the county records daily to see if anyone is cheating on them. “
Someone pretending to be Vidal was using a broker to find real buyers to contract through a real title company. And nobody caught the biggest red flag of them all.
“It’s a notary that doesn’t exist,” said Vidal.
The documents are signed and stamped by M. Michel Montier, Notaire Associé. WINK News quickly used France’s online notary directory to find his name and received no results.
“In some of these countries, notaries are not so easy to find due to the COVID lockdown. So, you know, people used this as an opportunity to fake, ”Jursinski-Murphy said.
Vidal is frustrated and didn’t think it could come to that in the States. She hired a lawyer and she thinks the broker and title company should have done more to look into things.
WINK News contacted the broker of the sale, Claude Thomas, who represented both the buyers and the fake seller.
Thomas didn’t want to speak on camera, but we asked Thomas if he had tried to verify the identity of the fake saleswoman posing as Vidal by talking on the phone or getting a copy of her ID. Thomas said he did.
But in his 20-year career, Thomas said he’s never been tricked like this, and he believes the title company was tricked too.
WINK News also contacted Agent Title Services, the company responsible for researching the properties and preparing the deeds. Licensed title and closing agent Lisa Gavin said she could not provide details on the case but said the situation is under claims and under investigation.
A partially edited report from CCPD shows that the sale was made through a financial advisor. Agent Title Services says it has now made changes, instead just working with sellers directly and using a remote online notary service or encouraging sellers to contact the embassy in their country.
Vidal told WINK News that both Thomas and Agent Title Services failed to answer their calls, but she is confident she will make up for the loss by getting either her property back or her current value in her pocket.
“And seeing the scammers punished, really, because I care about justice and the law,” Vidal said.
As for the buyers, WINK News contacted both Conways and Elseroads for comment.
Debra Conway, who bought the property in Port Charlotte, told WINK News that she didn’t learn until April this year that the land should never have been for sale. Fortunately, they got a check from their title insurance company last week for the price paid. But they also paid the property tax and hired a company to clear the land, so they don’t yet know if they will get their money back.
To avoid this happening to you, buyers, brokers, and anyone involved in a sale shouldn’t communicate by email alone, says Jursinski-Murphy. Landowners living outside of the state or outside of the country can apply to use their law firm or other local address for their tax information so as not to be vulnerable to potential scammers targeting overseas owners.
MORE: CCPD man arrested for fraudulent land sale in Cape Coral
See similar https://www.winknews.com/2021/07/15/thieves-steal-and-sell-french-womans-southwest-florida-property/
The post Thieves steal and sell a French woman's property in southwest Florida first appeared on Daily Florida Press.
from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/thieves-steal-and-sell-a-french-womans-property-in-southwest-florida/
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