Real Estate fraud is a broad term used to describe the different types of fraud:

Mortgage Fraud

Mortgage fraud is a type of real estate fraud that most often hurts the financial institutions that lend money for purchasing property. The most common form of mortgage fraud involves fraudsters acquiring property and then artificially increasing the property’s value through a series of sales and resales between the fraudster and someone in cooperation with them. A mortgage is then secured on the property based on the price that has been artificially inflated.

Title Fraud

Title fraud is a different type of real estate fraud that most often hurts individual homeowners. In comparison to the more than two million real estate transactions that occur each year in the province, there are a limited number of cases of title fraud. The most common forms of title fraud involve fraudsters using stolen identities or forged documents to transfer a registered owner’s title to himself or herself without the registered owner’s knowledge. The fraudster then obtains a mortgage on this property and once the funds are advanced on the mortgage, he or she disappears. This type of fraud is also sometimes referred to as “mortgage fraud.”

Consumer Protection Guide - The Ministry of Government Services (MGS) of Ontario urges Homeowners to protect their property by protecting themselves from Identity Theft!

What is Identity Theft?

Ontario home owners will no longer lose their property as a result of a fraudulent sale, counterfeit power of attorney or fake mortgage! Key Bill 152 elements with respect to Real Estate Fraud are:

• Ensures that ownership of a property cannot be lost as a result of the registration of a falsified mortgage, fraudulent sale or a counterfeit power of attorney.
• Implements a streamlined and expedited Land Titles Assurance Fund process for individuals who are victims of fraud so that title is returned and a decision on compensation is made within 90 days.
• Introduces additional safeguards for suspending and revoking the accounts of fraudsters so that they cannot register documents.
• Raises existing fines for real estate fraud related offences to $50,000 from $1,000.

In this BAR-eX Current Awareness Article Bob Aaron Toronto Star real estate law columnist suggests to make land survey part of any deal and not to view title insurance as a replacement for the survey. He tells the story that has some valuable lessons for every purchaser of a freehold property:

• Every agreement of purchase and sale should have attached to it a legible copy of an existing survey.
  
  

The Ontario government intends to introduce legislation this fall to help ensure that landowners do not lose their homes because of real estate fraud or become responsible for fraudulent mortgages... If passed, the proposed legislation will:

• ensure that property ownership cannot be lost as a result of the registration of a falsified mortgage, fraudulent sale, or a counterfeit power of attorney
• instead, an innocent homeowner's title will be restored and the fraudulent document will be nullified
• introduce new safeguards for suspending and revoking the accounts of fraudsters so they cannot register documents
• raise existing fines for real estate fraud-related offences from $1,000 to $50,000