Exclusive: How To Protect Yourself From Home Stealing Scam

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) — CBS4 News uncovered something every homeowner should know about.

Your home can be stolen from you, with the filing of just one fraudulent documentat the County Clerk's office.

 It's a scam that is spreading across South Florida, and three influential leaders are teaming up to stop it.

South Floridian, Yohany Garcia is charged with running a scam so harmful to its victims, the State Attorney, the County Clerk and the Inspector General are joining forces to put an end to it, and others like it.

"We absolutely want to take down all the different people who are involved in this scam," said Miami-Dade Inspector General Mary Cagle.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by CBS4's Natalia Zea, Garcia orchestrated a scam involving quitclaim deeds to steal people's homes.

While in jail charged with tax fraud, investigators said Garcia ran the scheme with the help of accomplices.

Here's how investigators say the scam works.

Using a fake notary and forged signatures on a quitclaim deed, the individual illegally transfers the ownership of a home to a third-party, a "straw buyer," who in turn sells the home to an unsuspecting real buyer.

The thief then pockets the cash and runs, sometimes getting hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time, after the home is sold.

Garcia has been charged with the theft of two homes, and the criminal investigation against her is ongoing.

"You end up with victims on both sides of the deal because a criminal in the middle is just plain stealing people's homes out from under them," said Cagle, whose office is leading the investigation.

That's what happened to Linda Cleland. Investigators are trying to find whoever filed a false deed last year, forging her signature. They stole her home and sold it to a legitimate real estate investor. That investor evicted Cleland in April.

"I thought my God, this house is being taken from me," she told Zea.

Cleland went to the State Attorney's office and police for help, but while her fraud case was still open, a County Court allowed the new homeowner to force her out. She became homeless. Living on a bench at a church a few blocks from her home for the next seven months.

"Did you feel voiceless?" Zea asked Cleland.

"You do. You feel like nobody listens to you, nobody cares," said Cleland. 

Cagle says, "There's been really no coordinated effort up until this point."

While Cagle continues to investigate the scam that affected Cleland, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is prosecuting Garcia and her alleged accomplices but says this crime reaches across South Florida.

"What we want to do is look at this globally, look at it systemically and find out how this was able to occur on a number of different bases and change it," said Fernandez Rundle.

Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin is concerned about the scam that is using his office.

"These are people who must be stopped," he said.

As the system works now, if you want to record a quitclaim deed you can e-file it, mail it in or go to the County Clerk Recorders Office in person to have it recorded. But no matter in which way you do it, you will never be asked for your ID.

Ruvin says he is now looking for ways to identify those who file the deeds, to make it easier for investigators to catch fraudsters.

"We're gonna tighten that trap as tightly as we can," he told Zea. While they work to reform the system to stop quitclaim fraud, all three leaders encourage you to be vigilant regarding your own home.

They advise you to keep your eyes on your mail, in case the clerk's office sends you a warning letter that a quitclaim deed has been filed.

Though, in Cleland's case, she believes her first warning was stolen out of her mailbox.

Ruvin suggests you go onto the clerk's website to check exactly what documents have been recorded in your name.

The information, he says, is kept up to date.

And if you do believe you are a victim of a deed scam, Fernandez Rundle says she can better identify your case if you call their fraud hotline, 305-547-3300.

While vigilance can slow down this scam, investigators continue to work to bust the fraudsters.

Yohany Garcia is set to face a judge for racketeering, grand theft and fraud later this month. Her attorney, Scott Sakin says she is not guilty.

"It's just people saying she did things and these people have cut deals with the State Attorney's Office," said Sakin.

Cleland hopes one day to face whoever stole her home in court.

"I don't think you can do this kind of thing if you have any decency. You can't do this to somebody," said Cleland.