Land Scams: How to Spot a Fake Seller Before You Lose Your Money

Vacant land is the kind of property impostors target most. Nobody lives on it. The owner may be in another state and rarely visits. There is often no mortgage, so no lender is looking over anyone's shoulder. An impostor with a fake ID and a good story can list it, sell it for cash, and be gone before the real owner hears a word.

The buyer in that deal pays real money for a deed signed by someone who never owned the land, and unwinding it takes lawyers and time. This guide shows how to tell a real seller from an impostor before any money moves.

Why vacant land is the favorite target

The FBI's Newark field office described the scheme in a May 2024 article: "It begins when a real estate agent gets a solicitation from a fake property owner wanting to sell their vacant lot in a rural community. A for sale sign goes up on the land. The seller asks for an all-cash sale and a quick closing. Within weeks, the deal can be done."

The agents explained why land is such an easy mark: "Sellers don’t have to do much in the way of paperwork. The land itself is vacant, so there’s no way to go ring someone’s doorbell and ask questions."

The American Land Title Association's 2026 Seller Impersonation Fraud Study, drawn from 245 title insurance professionals across 40 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, found that 59% of firms saw at least one seller impersonation attempt in 2025, more than double the 28% in ALTA's 2024 study. "Vacant land remains the most common target for seller impersonation fraud," ALTA reports, with 82% of respondents naming it as a frequent characteristic of attempted schemes. Nearly three-quarters named absentee owners, and 68% named properties owned free and clear of a mortgage.

How an impostor sale works

The impostor pulls the owner's name and mailing address from public records, then plays a numbers game. The FBI says solicitations go out to dozens of agents found online, or the impostor lists the parcel as for sale by owner. "We’ve had one example of a solicitation going out more than 60 times in an hour. When the realtor responds, the criminal has a fake id, fake documents, with the address of the real owner," FBI Special Agent Joe Cardosi said. "They even have fake notary stamps and seals to fraudulently execute settlement documents."

NAR's senior counsel, Charlie Lee, warns that the impostor typically requests a remote closing using a remote notary they arrange themselves, and that "The scammer may even impersonate the notary and provide fraudulent documents at closing" as well. The proceeds are wired. The impostor disappears.

In Cardosi's words, "the title companies often bear the brunt of the financial loss in this fraud." The real owner, meanwhile, faces a legal fight to unwind the sale, sometimes years later, after the unwitting buyer has invested in the land.

The red flags, and who publishes them

No single flag proves fraud, since honest owners sell cheap land from out of state every day. Several together mean you stop and verify before another dollar moves.

FBI Special Agent Joe Sullivan described the excuses: "The fake seller will always have an excuse for not being able to appear in person or on video, like they’re traveling abroad, don’t have a smart phone, or they’re in the hospital. They want to do everything online, to include electronic signatures."

How to verify the seller actually owns the land

Do this before you sign a contract, and again with the title company before closing.

1. Pull the owner of record yourself

Two county offices hold the answer. The assessor or property appraiser keeps the tax roll, which lists the owner's name and tax mailing address. The recorder or clerk holds the deeds, and the last deed names the current owner as grantee. The seller's name, the tax roll, and the last deed should all match, and any difference, such as a spouse, a company, or an estate, needs a paper explanation. Parcel apps such as Regrid pull assessor data onto a map for a quick first look, but they can lag the county, so confirm on the county's own sites.

2. Contact the owner through the tax roll, not the listing

Every phone number and email in the listing came from the person you are trying to check. ALTA's handout tells title companies to reach the seller at an independently discovered and validated phone number, and to mail the seller at the address on the tax records, at the property address, and at the grantee address on the last deed if it is different. You can do the same. A short letter to the tax roll address costs a stamp, and an impostor cannot intercept it.

3. Let the title company run identity checks

ALTA's guidance for its members includes sending the seller a link to a third-party identity verification service, running the seller's email and phone number through a verification program, and this: "Ask conversational questions to ascertain seller's knowledge of property information not readily available in public records". A seller who refuses or cannot complete the check is, on ALTA's list, a reason to halt the transaction.

4. Meet in person or on a verified video call

The impostor's whole plan depends on never being seen. A meeting at the title company, or a live video call in which the seller holds up the ID the title company has on file, is the hardest step for a fraudster to fake.

5. Choose your own notary and closing agent

You pick the title company or closing attorney, and they pick the notary. A stamp on a page proves nothing, since the FBI has seen fake notary stamps and seals.

6. Buy an owner's title insurance policy

An impostor's deed is a forgery. ALTA's consumer flyer says that for a buyer, "both the ALTA Owner's Policy and the ALTA Homeowner's Policy of Title Insurance provide coverages for pre-purchase forgery." The Homeowner's Policy is available only for improved one-to-four family residential property, so on raw land ask for the Owner's Policy. In a cash deal, ordering it is on you. See our guide to title insurance for vacant land.

Wire fraud at closing

The second place land buyers lose money is the wire, when a criminal who has read the deal's email traffic sends new wiring instructions that look like they came from the closer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says: "Never follow instructions contained in an email. Verify the closing instructions, including the account name and number, with your trusted representatives either in person or by using the phone number you previously agreed to." Its next tip is to avoid using phone numbers or links found in an email. The guidance was written for mortgage closings in 2019, but nothing in it is specific to mortgages.

If a wire has already gone out, the FBI's IC3 says: "If you discover a fraudulent transfer, time is of the essence. Immediately, contact your financial institution and request a recall of the funds along with any necessary indemnification documents." In 2025 the IC3 Recovery Asset Team's Financial Fraud Kill Chain handled 3,900 incidents and froze $679,013,183, a 58% success rate.

Other land schemes to watch for

Fake listings that collect deposits

The cheapest version needs no deed. The FTC describes it in its rental-listing guidance: the fake owner says the property can only be secured by a wire transfer, gift cards, or cryptocurrency, then disappears after payment. A land listing that wants a deposit before you have verified the owner of record, by any method you cannot reverse, is the same scheme. Deposits go to a title company or attorney's escrow account, never to the seller.

The Florida Attorney General's guidance on land sales scams adds: "View the property. Do not buy land over the phone or by mail or email. Talk to residents who live in the area." A map app such as onX Hunt confirms you are standing on the lot in the listing.

Installment sales with nothing on record

Seller financing on land often comes as a contract for deed, also called a land contract, in which the seller keeps legal title until the last payment. The CFPB's 2024 report on these contracts, which studied home purchases, found that they usually allow forfeiture of every payment on any default, and that "Buyers' exercise of their rights regarding the property is often complicated because the contract showing the buyer's interest is not recorded."

Whether a seller must record depends on the state. In Texas, Property Code section 5.076 requires the seller under an executory contract to record it on or before the 30th day after it is executed, but that subchapter covers only property used or to be used as the buyer's residence (a lot of one acre or less is presumed residential) and not contracts that deliver a deed within 180 days. A Texas homesite lot should appear in the county clerk's records within a month, while recreational acreage may not be covered.

Federal law also reaches subdivision lots. The Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act makes it unlawful, for a non-exempt lot, "to represent that roads, sewers, water, gas, or electric service, or recreational amenities will be provided or completed by the developer without stipulating in the contract of sale or lease that such services or amenities will be provided or completed." A buyer of a non-exempt lot may revoke until midnight of the seventh day after signing. Subdivisions with fewer than 25 lots are exempt, among other exemptions, so ask an attorney whether the act covers your lot.

Undisclosed liens and back taxes

Liens attach to the land, not to the seller. In Florida, property taxes "shall be a first lien, superior to all other liens" on the property from January 1 of the year they were levied until paid. In Texas, a tax lien attaches to property on January 1 of each year to secure that year's taxes, penalties, and interest, in favor of every taxing unit. Neither statute mentions the buyer, and it does not need to: a lien that stays on the land until paid is the new owner's problem after closing. Ask the county tax collector what is owed, and let the title search find recorded mortgages, judgments, and other liens.

Fake surveys and forged documents

The FBI has seen fake IDs, fake documents bearing the real owner's address, and fake notary stamps and seals. For a survey, call the surveyor whose name is on it, using a number you found yourself. In Florida, the rule for electronically transmitted surveys says that "A scanned image of an original signature shall not be used in lieu of an original signature and seal or electronic signature." The safest course is to order your own. See survey types and costs and how to find property lines.

Pressure tactics

Every scheme above runs on speed. The FBI notes that the fake seller "will also have a pretext to speed up the sale" and the Federal Trade Commission's advice is to walk away from anyone who pressures you to decide quickly. Write your offer with time for the title search, the identity checks, and a site visit; see how to make an offer on land.

If you have been targeted or lost money

1. Call your bank first. Ask for a recall of the wire. The IC3 notes that financial institutions have different policies, so ask exactly what yours will do.
2. File at ic3.gov. The IC3 says to file regardless of the amount lost.
3. Call the title company. If the sale closed, the title insurer needs to know at once, and an owner's policy claim starts here.
4. Report to the state. ALTA's handout lists local law enforcement, the state bureau of investigation, and the state attorney general. In Florida, the Attorney General takes complaints online at myfloridalegal.com or at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM.
5. Report the notary. ALTA points notary violations to the secretary of state.

After you close, watch the record

Once the land is yours, you become the absentee owner this fraud targets. Florida requires every clerk of the circuit court to run a free recording notification service that emails you when a deed, mortgage, or other document is recorded against a name or parcel ID you register. Georgia's Filing Activity Notification System, run by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, does the same statewide; its home page calls it free, and notices are forward-looking only, so register the day you close.

The bottom line

Fraud, contract, and lien rules differ by state, so confirm the specifics with a licensed real estate attorney or title professional in your state before you rely on any of them.

Match the seller to the tax roll and the last deed. Mail the owner at the county's address. Let the title company verify identity and choose the notary. Meet the seller in person or on a verified video call. Confirm wiring instructions by phone on a number you looked up yourself. Buy the owner's title policy. A seller who cannot accept those steps is not someone to buy from, whatever the price. For everything else, see the land due diligence checklist and how to buy land.