A majority of title insurance firms—roughly 59%—encountered someone trying to sell real estate they did not actually own, at least once in 2025, according to a new study released by the American Land Title Association.
That's a sharp rise from the 28% of firms who experienced an attempt when ALTA last conducted its survey in 2024.
Perhaps more alarming, 45% of respondents reported at least one seller impersonation fraud attempt in the last month, with 23% encountering three or more instances. That's up from 19% and 4% respectively, compared with 2024, suggesting that this type of fraud may be becoming more prevalent.
Sometimes, the attempts are caught too late, and fraudsters are cashing in big time.
Of the respondents that reported at least one seller impersonation fraud attempt in 2025, 1 in 4 paid out a claim. Among companies that reported a claim and disclosed the amount, half said the average cost of a payout was more than $100,000, ALTA says.
“Criminals are investing time and resources to exploit weaknesses in real estate transactions, which means our industry must remain equally committed to strengthening safeguards that protect property owners and consumers,” ALTA Chief Strategy, Communications and Innovation Officer Elizabeth Blosser said.
ALTA's latest survey included responses from 245 title insurance professionals, compared with 783 respondents in 2024. While the latest survey included more high-volume and multistate firms and fewer small firms, ALTA said weighting the results did not change its findings.
Additional findings from the study:
- Vacant land remained the most common property type targeted in SIF attempts, but vacation homes, rental properties, agricultural land and primary residences all ticked up significantly from 2024.
- The most common owner characteristics among properties targeted included absentee owners, free-and-clear property ownership and recently deceased owners.
- The most common information or technology used by fraudsters is spoofed contact information, birth dates and existing knowledge of personal financial information.
- This year’s study asked title firms to share how commonly image or voice deepfakes were used, and 58% reported that it was at least somewhat common.
- The three most common red flags of fraud were sellers avoiding meetings or calls, sellers requesting a remote signing or a seller-chosen notary, and cash transactions.
ALTA notes that 98% of title insurance firms use at least one tool to help detect fraud, with the vast majority layering, on average, five tools. Notably, CertifID, a leading real estate fraud-prevention company, sponsored the study.
