Protecting elderly homeowners from property fraud
A free guide for senior homeowners and the family members helping them. Sourced from the FBI, DOJ, FTC, CFPB, and the Administration for Community Living. No product pitch — every action listed is something you can take today, for free, without us.
People age 60 and over reported the highest aggregate losses to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center of any age group in the most recent annual reporting cycle — and real-estate, rental, and confidence-fraud categories are consistently among the largest by dollar volume. Source linked in the Sources section below.
Skip to the four free actions that protect your home. Most take under 30 minutes total. None require buying anything.
Skip to the family caregiver checklist and the warning signs section. These are the things to watch for, in order.
Four patterns that target older homeowners specifically
Property fraud against seniors looks different from general identity theft. These four patterns appear over and over in federal advisories and state attorney general filings.
Reviewed May 2026 · Sources linked below each pattern
Long-tenure, paid-off homes
Address-change exploits
Unauthorized power of attorney
Refinance & reverse-mortgage impersonation calls
What to do, in order, today
These four actions, in this order, prevent or surface the great majority of senior property-fraud incidents. None of them costs money.
Enroll in your county recorder's free document-alert program
Why this is #1: a fraudulent deed cannot transfer ownership without being recorded at the county. The recorder's alert is the authoritative real-time signal — you'll know within hours, not months.
Set up USPS Informed Delivery + check the assessor mailing address
Then call the county assessor and confirm the mailing address on file. Many counties allow online verification. If a recent unauthorized address change appears, dispute it immediately and ask the recorder to add a fraud alert flag.
Designate a trusted contact on financial accounts
For brokerages and retirement custodians: FINRA Rule 4512 requires firms to ask for a trusted-contact designation when an account is opened or updated. If you've never been asked, call and request it.
For banks and credit unions: there is no federal requirement to offer a trusted contact, but many do voluntarily. Separately, the Senior Safe Act of 2018 (15 U.S.C. § 78q-1 note) gives banks, brokerages, and retirement custodians legal immunity for reporting suspected elder financial exploitation in good faith. Ask your institution: "Do you offer a trusted-contact designation for elder-financial-exploitation outreach?" It is free where offered.
Place a free credit freeze with all three bureaus
Freeze does not affect existing accounts, credit score, or government benefits. You can temporarily lift it any time online or by phone.
What to watch for
Any one of these can be benign on its own. Two or more in the same household, especially within a short window, is the pattern adult-protective-services teams ask about most often.
- New, unfamiliar names appearing on county recorder filings or assessor mailings
- Property tax bills, mortgage statements, or bank statements arriving late, opened, or stopping altogether
- A new power of attorney, deed, or refinance document the homeowner does not remember signing
- Unexplained large withdrawals, wire transfers, or new HELOC / reverse-mortgage activity
- A new 'helper,' caregiver, online friend, or contractor the homeowner is reluctant to discuss
- Mail-forwarding confirmation letters from USPS that the homeowner did not request
- Strangers visiting the home with documents to sign, especially with time pressure
- Letters from a title company, lender, or law firm the homeowner does not recognize
Who to call, in order
Make these calls in this order. The first three are free, take a phone call, and create the official record other agencies need.
Use the NAPSA state directory to find your state's APS hotline. APS investigates suspected exploitation of vulnerable adults and is the entry point for everything else. Call within hours, not days.
Report a suspected fraudulent recording immediately. Ask for a fraud-alert flag on the parcel and request copies of any documents recorded in the last 12 months for review.
File an IC3 report for any fraud touching real estate, wire transfers, or online impersonation. IC3 routes to the appropriate FBI field office and creates the federal case record.
Most states have a dedicated elder-fraud unit. Filing here adds the case to state-level enforcement and is often the path to civil remedies.
If a fraudulent deed or unauthorized power of attorney has already been recorded, you need a real-property attorney. Many state bars maintain free or sliding-scale referral lists.
If you're helping an elderly parent
Print this page. Walk through the list together with your parent. The goal isn't to alarm — it's to set up the alerts and contacts that will surface a problem early if one ever happens.
- Run the free Property Visibility Report on your parent's home, your home, and any inherited property — quarterly.
- Help enroll the property in the county recorder's free document-alert program. Register every name on title (the homeowner, spouse, any trust or LLC name).
- Set up USPS Informed Delivery for both your parent's mailing address and your own, so mail-tampering is visible.
- Confirm the assessor mailing address is correct and that no recent change-of-address has been filed without your parent's knowledge.
- Review any existing power of attorney with an elder-law attorney. Consider revoking and re-signing a narrow, current one.
- Place a free credit freeze with all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) — it is free under federal law.
- Designate a 'trusted contact' on every brokerage and retirement account (FINRA Rule 4512), and ask each bank or credit union whether it offers the same option.
- Save the Adult Protective Services number for your state in your phone before you need it.
- Have the conversation about scams — naming the patterns reduces shame and increases reporting if something happens.
No signup required. The report shows what's publicly visible about a property.
A note on reverse mortgages
Legitimate Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) are insured by HUD and originated by FHA-approved lenders. Reverse-mortgage scams, on the other hand, are one of the most damaging senior property-fraud categories — losses can exceed the home's full equity. Common red flags include cold calls, "free home" or "no payments ever" pitches, pressure to sign quickly, and any request to add a non-spouse to title before originating the loan.
Authoritative references used in this guide
Every claim and statistic on this page traces back to one of the federal or non-profit sources below. We do not cite our own data.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center · annual elder-fraud reporting
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center · quitclaim-deed and seller-impersonation alerts
U.S. Department of Justice — Elder Justice Initiative
Federal Trade Commission · annual reports on fraud reported by adults 60+
Federal Trade Commission · annual aggregated consumer-fraud data
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Money Smart and educator tools for older adults
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · agent-under-POA guides
U.S. Postal Service OIG · audit reports on COA fraud and identity verification
ALTA · industry advisories on title fraud and seller-impersonation schemes
American Bar Association · power-of-attorney and elder-law resources
AARP · consumer fraud advisories for older adults
Administration for Community Living · eldercare.acl.gov · 1-800-677-1116
USC Keck School of Medicine · funded by ACL
State-by-state APS reporting directory
This guide is educational and is not legal, financial, or medical advice. If a situation is unfolding right now, call Adult Protective Services in your state and, for any in-progress financial transfer, call the receiving institution to attempt a recall before calling other agencies.