Land sales in Maine go through without owners knowing; sheriff wants state to act

YORK COUNTY, Maine (WGME) — If you own land in Maine, when was the last time you checked on it?

There's a property problem in York County. Alleged scammers are selling land from right under the real owners' feet.

Tucked away in Kennebunkport, 32 Binnacle Lane is just waiting to be developed.

They contacted me and said, 'Hey, are you a local real estate agent? I have a piece of property in Kennebunkport that I'm looking to sell,'" Seacoast Sister Team at Better Homes & Gardens Masiello Group Real Estate Agent Jacquelyn Giordano said.

But Giordano came with questions.

"When was the first red flag?" WGME's I-Team Reporter Stephanie Grindley asked.

"Right off the bat," Giordano said.

The person claiming to own the property, "Mark Lobello," said he was far away.

It confirmed when I asked him to walk the property with me," Giordano said. "He said, 'Oh, I can't do that. I'm in a hospital in Texas. I need to sell the land quickly in order to pay my medical bills.'"

Giordano said that's when she knew this was an online scammer using a fake ID to pose as a Maine landowner in order to sell the property. She then took to Google to try to warn the real Mark Lobello.

I was at work, my cell phone rings. I picked it up and she said, 'Is this Mark Lobello?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'I wanted to let you know I've been texting with someone who I think is claiming to be you,'" Lobello said. "I said, 'Thank you.' I didn't really think about it at that point."

But two days later, he decided to pay a visit to his property in Maine.

"I turn the corner and I drive up -- there's a for-sale sign in front of my lot," Lobello said.

It turns out, the sign had gone up that morning by a different real estate agent.

"(I) got out of the car," Lobello said. "I called the number on it. I said, 'Mr. So-and-So, did you list 32 Binnacle Lane in Kennebunkport?' And he's like, 'Yes! I just did it this morning!' You could tell with his voice he was excited like, 'Oh, my God, I'm going to sell this on the first day I listed it.' I said, 'Well that's my land and it's not for sale.'"

The agent told Lobello, and later law enforcement, that he had trusted a fake driver's license provided by the scammer.

Giordano said she wants other agents in Maine to know the red flags and to be on guard.

I'll ask them (the sellers) if they have a friend or family member that could meet with me. I could come walk the lot while they're on Zoom. I always ask for two forms of identification because a lot of the scammers are creating fake licenses," Giordano said. "They're taking state templates, putting their picture in it and sending it on. Changing the names. Those are some big ones. If you're gonna tell someone that their property could be between $225,000 and $275,000 and they automatically say 225, that's a red flag. Because they probably just want to take the cash and get out."

For peace of mind, Giordano helped sign Lobello up for a notification system every time someone in Kennebunkport lists a property.

"Now, I watch my land all the time," Lobello said.

"Since this scam, for Mark's case, have you gotten more?" Grindley asked.

"Yeah. At least four or five more," Giordano said.

While Lobello was lucky to catch the listing before a sale, others haven't been.

"I paid the taxes for, what, 20 years?" former Biddeford land owner Richard Lowe said.

Lowe inherited a 2-acre property on Cole Road in Biddeford two decades ago. But last year, something changed.

"Why did you go down to the clerk's office?" Grindley said.

"Well, I didn't get a tax bill," Lowe said. "So, I called the town hall, the assessor's department, and they said, 'Well, you didn't get a bill because you didn't own the land anymore.'

Lowe was told his property had been sold to a developer in Biddeford months prior.

That just floored me. I couldn't imagine what was going on," Lowe said.

His search for answers led him to "Red Door Title,” a closing company he had previously used for a different property.

We looked up where the deed was, connected who had done the closing. It was not us, but we were able to confirm with that closing company, and with Richard, that somebody had impersonated him," Red Door Title Senior Attorney and VP of Title Operations Jackie Fitzgerald-Boyd said.

Fitzgerald-Boyd pulled up a fake Maine driver’s license given to her by the title company. It turns out, the closing was done without any party ever meeting in person.

"You know, I don't have black eyes," Lowe said.

The fake signature on the deed matched the fake signature on Lowe's license.

Lowe would have to go to court and prove fraud in order to get his property back because the deed was signed.

To this date, I don't know where the complicity is in the individuals all along the line," Lowe said.

The only bad actors in this are the scammers themselves. The rest are all the victims," Fitzgerald-Boyd said.

State Senator Henry Ingwersen (D-Biddeford) said there have been a dozen instances in York County of attempted deed fraud.

"There's been some successful ones where it's gone through all the way and I know it's occurred in other counties throughout the state, as well," Ingwersen said.

Ingwersen introduced a bill at the state house that would add more safeguards to the selling process and require identity verification before a deed transfer happens at a town clerk's office. If an attempted sale is fraudulent, Ingwersen wants it to be easily nulled, and the bill would add harsher penalties for the imposters.

What this bill is asking is that we separate out deed fraud and make it a felony, because these people are suffering an incredible loss financially and just the process of getting their land back is onerous," Ingwersen said.

In Lowe's case, the WGME I-Team was told the developer agreed to pay the real Richard Lowe $40,000 to settle the matter. Though, Lowe believes the stress of the past year already did its damage.

I had a stroke about three months ago, and I think this had something to do with it," Lowe said. "Even once you go through it, your level of trust for a fellow human being goes down."

The bill, An Act to Implement Protections Against Deed Fraud, was pushed to the next legislative session.

In the meantime, the Registrar’s Office said you can set up "Fraud Alert" which alerts a property owner if any document has been recorded with their name on it.

It is not a universal system throughout the state, but for York County, the service is free and can be found online.

The alert will give you a slight heads-up if someone is impersonating you before you go to pay your taxes. However, Nancy Hammond with the York County Register of Deeds, would like to clarify it does not put a "hold" on the deed. It is something proponents of the bill would like to add when it comes to preventing deed fraud.