Vacant land fraud in Texas: how scams work and how to protect your land

How land scams work

One land scam on the rise across the country is seller impersonation. A criminal pretends to be you, lists your land for sale, and pockets the buyer's money. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a public warning about it on June 16, 2026, describing three stages:

1. Impersonation. The criminal creates a fake driver's license or passport in the owner's name, plus a new email address and an internet phone number. Owners' details come from county and state websites, data brokers, stolen data or phishing.
2. The sale. Posing as the owner, the criminal contacts a local real estate agent and title company and signs the paperwork to market and sell the land. In one case the FBI describes, a fake deed was used to make the story more convincing.
3. The payout. The criminal asks for the sale money to be sent to a co-conspirator attorney in another state, then disappears.

A related scheme is deed fraud: recording a forged deed that "transfers" the land to the scammer or an accomplice, or a forged lien to borrow against it. Either way, the real owner often finds out months or years later, when they try to sell or borrow and the title search turns up documents they never signed.

Why vacant land is the favorite target

Vacant land has everything a scammer wants. Nobody lives there to see a "for sale" sign, the owner may live in another city or state, and land often sells for cash. Texas REALTORS tells agents to treat a listing of non-owner-occupied property, such as vacant land, in-fill lots, unoccupied acreage or ranch land, as a red flag worth checking.

A 2025 National Association of REALTORS survey of REALTOR association staff and leaders points the same way. Of the most recent title fraud cases respondents knew about, 62% involved vacant land and 12% involved owner-occupied homes. NAR notes the sample was small, so treat the figures as a guide.

Does a forged deed mean you lose your land?

No. Texas courts treat a forged deed as void, so it passes no ownership. A paper published by the Texas Land Title Association also notes that a buyer under a forged deed can't qualify as an innocent purchaser. Your rights in the land don't change.

The forged document still does damage, though. It sits in the county records and clouds your title. Title companies generally won't insure a sale or loan on the land until a court rules on the forged deed or it's otherwise removed from the chain of title. That can freeze your own sale until it's cleared.

A deed you actually signed because someone tricked you is a different problem, and undoing it usually takes a lawsuit. Call an attorney right away.

What Texas changed in 2025

The Legislature passed several laws aimed squarely at property fraud:

Under SB 16, these crimes are generally second-degree felonies when the property's market value is under $300,000 and first-degree felonies at $300,000 or more. The penalty goes up a level when the owner is elderly, disabled or a nonprofit, or the property is a homestead. In a real property theft case, the court must order restitution, which can include the owner's attorney's fees and court costs for clearing the title.

Warning signs someone is using your land

• A "for sale" sign on your land, or an online listing you didn't create.
• Calls or letters from agents, buyers or title companies about a sale you know nothing about.
• A notice from the county clerk about a document filed on your property. Texas clerks who believe in good faith that a filing is fraudulent must notify the people named in it, and the last known owner, within two business days.
• An appraisal district record that shows a new owner or mailing address, or tax statements that stop arriving.

Buyers and agents watch for their own set of red flags. The FBI lists sellers who communicate only by email or text and won't meet, pressure to close fast below market value, sellers who can't produce a survey or tax records, wire requests to accounts in other names or places, and deeds notarized in a foreign country.

What to do if someone sells your land or records a fake deed

1. Get a copy of the recorded document from the county clerk, with its recording number, the notary's name and the title company, if one is shown.
2. Report it to the county clerk. For conveyances filed after January 1, 2026, the clerk must notify law enforcement and pass on any photo ID information the filer gave.
3. Report it to law enforcement, your local sheriff or police department, and file a complaint with the FBI at ic3.gov. The FBI asks for phone numbers, email addresses, bank account details and anyone else involved.
4. Contact the title company that handled the sale and tell it what happened.
5. Hire a Texas real estate attorney. Depending on the facts, the fix might be a quiet title suit or one of the faster statutory routes below.
6. Tell the appraisal district, so tax notices keep coming to you.

The faster routes under Texas law

• Fraudulent liens and claims: Government Code Section 51.903 lets an owner file a motion, with a suggested form in the statute, asking a district judge to review the document. The judge can rule on the papers without a hearing.
• Fraudulent conveyances (SB 1734): you record an owner's affidavit and send copies by certified mail to the people named as grantor and grantee (Property Code Section 5.0206). If neither files a sworn response within 120 days after you record proof of the mailing, you can petition the district court for a finding that the deed doesn't convey your land (Government Code Section 51.9035). Buyers and lenders can rely on that recorded finding.
• Damages: anyone who knowingly files a fraudulent lien or claim against your property, intending to cause harm, is liable for $10,000 or your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees, court costs and possibly exemplary damages (Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 12).

Ways to protect your land from fraud

• Sign up for county fraud alerts. Many Texas county clerks offer free email alerts when a document is recorded in your name. Tarrant County's Property Fraud Alert watches for your name on more than 90 document types, and Collin County's Property Alert emails you when your name appears in a real property filing. Enroll every name the land is held in, including an LLC or trust.
• Check the appraisal district record for your land a few times a year.
• Keep your mailing address current with the appraisal district, so notices reach you. Missed tax bills still collect penalties, as our guide to selling land with back taxes explains.
• Search the big listing sites for your land's address or parcel now and then.
• Keep your documents: deed, survey, tax statements and title policy. A real owner has them, and a scammer usually doesn't.
• Ask a neighbor or local contact to tell you if a sign or survey stakes appear.

Alerts don't stop a filing. As Tarrant County puts it, the service is an early warning system. A paid monitoring service can't block a recording either, so check what your county offers for free first.

Does title insurance protect you?

It helps, within limits. The Texas owner's policy commonly used for land (Form T-1) covers title defects caused by forgery, fraud or impersonation in the chain of title as of the policy date. It generally excludes problems created after that date. So the policy you got when you bought generally won't cover a forged deed recorded years later, although the FBI suggests reviewing your policy to see what protection it offers.

In practice, most of the protection sits on the buying side. Texas title companies verify sellers' identities before closing, and a buyer's own policy covers a forgery in their chain. In a real property theft case, SB 16 also requires the court to order restitution to a title insurer that paid a claim.

If you're selling, expect extra identity checks

Because impersonators pose as out-of-state owners who can't come in person, genuine remote sellers now get more scrutiny. A title company may ask for a video call, extra ID, or details only the owner would know. It's there to protect you. Our guide to selling Texas land from out of state explains how remote closings work, and our guide to selling land without a realtor covers the rest of the process.

Whoever you sell to, close through a Texas title company that verifies who you are and holds the money until the deed is signed. That's how we work too. If you're thinking about selling, tell us about your land.