Scam stole land from the dead

Mike Hoyem of The (Fort Myers) News-Press has a new twist on Florida land deals: the use of phony deeds to sell land owned by dead people. “Forged signatures, faked notarizations, phony witnesses and easy access to land records via the Internet are robbing the dead and their relatives of land as property values in Lee County skyrocket. And the fraud could cause big problems for the people who are buying the properties.” The paper posted copies of fake deeds on its site, and state and federal authorities are investigating the scam.