A MOURNING family has discovered that their late father's home was sold in an identity fraud scheme that realtors say should have never happened. When 84-year-old Jerry Gotlieb passed away in 2018, his children came together to organize his affairs and plan his funeral. His daughter, Debi Gotlieb, agreed with her brother to take some time before they cleaned out their dad's home in Scottsdale, Arizona as lawyers handled his last will and testament.
But in December 2019, Gotlieb noticed a strange error in the county tax records that were being reviewed by their family 's attorneys. Little did she know, she was in for the shock of a lifetime. "So I put in his address [online], and it showed that it was owned by Zillow, and it showed that it was on the market," Gotlieb told New Orleans-based Fox News affiliate WVUE in 2022.
"And it was cleaned out, I went to [the real estate listing] and it was empty," she added. Gotlieb could not believe she had been scammed at first, she said. "Everything that my dad owned was in that house.
I was sobbing, I got in my car and got there as fast as I could." But when she arrived at the house, she saw that the locks had been changed. She immediately found the name of the agent who sold the home and contacted him, along with the police and a lawyer.
Gotlieb and her family had become victims of deed fraud — or the illegal acquisition of a property. Gotlieb's lawyer told local reporters that he had seen many cases of deed fraud in the past, but no.
