In Canada, complex fraud schemes are targeting homeowners

A Canadian couple recently learned that their home was sold by fraudsters without their consent while they were out of town. Experts say theft of this nature is rare, but there has been a notable rise of similar cases in the country's most populous city.

Early this year, Toronto police said they wanted the public's help in catching two people who were involved in a complex fraud scheme.

The individuals, police said, had used fake identities to pose as owners of a home in the city. They then successfully sold the home, handing over the keys to the unsuspecting new owners.

The real owners of the home, meanwhile, had been out of the country for work since January 2022.

The out-of-town couple only learned that their home had been sold without their knowledge months later, after noticing that their mortgage payments had disappeared from their bank accounts. เซกซี่บาคาร่า

The incident captured the fascination of many in Canada, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area and Vancouver, where real estate is categorised as a national obsession because of its high cost - the average home costs over C$1m ($749,000; £620,000) - and housing scarcity.