Real Estate Broker Accused of Stealing Over $300K From Client Arrested in Pines
Pembroke Pines News | June 29, 2026 | By Carla Mendez
A Miami realtor who owns a title company was arrested Sunday by the Pembroke Pines Police Department and accused of misappropriating more than $322,000 in escrow funds from a home sale. Margaret Jimenez, 48, is listed as president of All Star Title, a real estate and title insurance agency based in Aventura.
Jimenez faces multiple charges, including grand theft of more than $100,000 and organized scheme to defraud involving more than $50,000, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
The Pembroke Pines News reached out to the PPPD for more information but has not heard back as of Monday, June 29. The sale closed Sept. 19, 2025, and Jimenez allegedly received $322,849.03 in escrow deposits intended to cover taxes, mortgage payoffs, fees and the seller’s proceeds, including $147,304.19 in profit. According to the affidavit, the funds instead were wired and used to pay an unrelated mortgage through Carrington Mortgage Services, leaving the escrow account without enough money to close the transaction. Investigators say the seller never received the proceeds from the sale, which prevented the transfer of the home to the buyer. By Oct. 31, the escrow accounts balance had fallen to $281.40, investigators found. Bank records obtained through a subpoena confirmed the account never held enough money to cover the required disbursements. Jimenez was being held at the Broward County Main Jail as of Monday, June 29, on a $75,000 bond.
Rise in Deed Theft Across US Prompts Crackdown in New York City
THE GUARDIAN | May 15, 2026 | Eric Berger in New York
After more than 500 deed theft complaints last year, Zohran Mamdani pushes crackdown effort
Nurul Islamnuru, an immigrant from Bangladesh, rented a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York, with his wife, three children and father-in-law before, in July 2022, purchasing a four-bedroom home with a back yard for his kids to play in.
“I feel really proud,” said Islamnuru, who spent 18 years working as a busser and server at a California Pizza Kitchen and then worked in a souvenir shop at Times Square.
That excitement proved short-lived. Less than a year after the family moved in, a man called Mizanur Rahman – who had previously pleaded guilty to bank fraud and had been involved in earlier fraudulent transfers involving the property – was able to fraudulently transfer the deed.
Such “deed theft” has increased significantly in recent years in the US, prompting state and local governments to devote more attention to the issue.
Law enforcement has reported a rise in criminals fraudulently taking possession of people’s homes in states like Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York and Tennessee.
Experts attribute the uptick to a range of factors, including the increasing cost of real estate and technological advancements.
In response, states have passed legislation to better protect homeowners. New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, recently established an office of deed theft prevention.
“Fraud always has been and will be with us,” said Chris Morton, CEO of the American Land Title Association, which represents the title insurance industry. “The good news is, there has been significant collaboration, both within the industry, as well as with law enforcement and state policymakers” to address the crimes.
From 2019 through 2023, more than 58,000 victims nationwide reported $1.3bn in losses relating to real estate fraud, according to an FBI report.
Deed theft is when someone steals the title to a home without the homeowner’s knowledge or approval. The perpetrators often go door-to-door to reach people who are in “distress with regard to their home ownership”, said Jacob Inwald, director of litigation-economic justice at Legal Services NYC, which represents fraud victims.
“They will tell them, ‘We’re going to help you resolve your arrears in one way or another,’ without necessarily giving them a lot of detail, but they will have them sign a series of papers, the end result of which is the owner, usually without even knowing that this is what they are doing, has transferred title to their property,” Inwald said.
In New York City, there were 517 deed theft complaints in 2025, more than three times as many as just two years earlier, according to the state attorney general’s office.
In March, in a circuit court in Detroit, there were more than 600 cases in which people tried to get their homes back from a thief who used legal paperwork to steal their properties, the Detroit News reported.
“Generational wealth is being stolen, and people don’t even realize it’s happening,” a Detroit city council member, Mary Waters, said at a February deed fraud town hall attended by more than 150 people.
In a recent scheme, a Brooklyn attorney, Sanford Solny, told victims, who were primarily Black or Latino, that he was a financial expert who could negotiate with lenders to sell the homes for less than what was owed on a mortgage – a process known as a short sale – and help them avoid foreclosure, according to the Brooklyn district attorney.
Solny was convicted of 17 charges and sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
“When you lose title to your property, you’re not just losing the equity that you have invested – this is your life savings that have been stripped – but it’s also your home,” Inwald said. “These are often seniors who have been in these properties for decades.”
The scam has become more attractive because of how much real estate values have increased in recent years, Morton said.
Technology has “also lowered the barrier for criminals, who are using AI and digital tools to impersonate sellers, fake credentials, and make scams more sophisticated and harder to detect”, Morton said.
In 2023, 28% of title-insurance companies experienced at least one seller-impersonation fraud attempt, the land title association reported.
Lawmakers across the country have introduced legislation aimed at stopping the thefts. Texas recently enacted laws that allow a person to petition a district court for a review of alleged fraudulent documents recorded against their property and make it a crime to perform a notarization if the official is aware that the requester did not appear for the process.
In New York, the office of deed theft prevention will “expand strategic enforcement against deed theft, flag suspicious property filings, coordinate with law enforcement, conduct public education and outreach, promote preventive safeguards, and improve data-sharing across agencies”, a press release states.
In March, Mamdani also suspended the city’s program in which it sold property owners’ unpaid tax liens to investor-backed trusts, which then tried to collect unpaid bills with added fees. The city published a list of homes available as part of the lien sale, which gave a “road map to the scammers to go out and literally knock on the doors of at-risk homeowners and tell them, ‘We will solve all your problems,’” Inwald said.
Mamdani’s decision to pause such sales for six months is a “positive development, but there are many people who think it would be better if the city did not engage in a tax lien sale at all”, Inwald said.
While prosecutors and lawmakers cheered the move, Inwald would like to see the city hire more than just the office’s director, Peter White, a supervising attorney for homeowner assistance at the non-profit Access Justice Brooklyn.
A spokesperson for the New York City’s department of finance, which houses the deed theft office, stated in an email that the city plans to hire additional staff and routinely evaluate the office’s resources to ensure “it has the support it needs”.
In the meantime, Islamnuru, the Queens resident, has continued to live in his dream home, but more than three years after buying it, he still does have an undisputed title for it.
Even though Rahman was convicted of bank fraud in 2007 and a court declared invalid his purchase of the property – in which he forged his brother-in-law’s signature – Rahman allegedly again was able to obtain fraudulent notarization of the property at a US embassy in Bangladesh and transfer ownership of it to Merrick Capital, a company whose members are unknown, and another defendant in the case.
“This case highlights broader issues with the current system for deed recording,” said Leslie Wybiral, an attorney with Queens Legal Services who is representing Islamnuru. “New York’s recording system requires documents that appear valid on their face to be accepted, which can be exploited by bad actors. Even where fraud is clear, there is no fast way to correct the record, forcing victims into years-long litigation just to restore ownership.”
The lawsuit is ongoing.
“My wife, she cries sometimes,” Islamnuru said. “She says, ‘What happened to us?’”
How Builders Can Protect Themselves Against a New Type of Fraud
BUILDER | May 14, 2026 | Brought to you by First American Title Homebuilder Services
Account takeovers are growing more common, so builders need stronger controls before funds move.
The real estate industry remains a primary target for cybercriminals, with one in every four parties in a transaction now targeted by online crooks—and of those, one in 20 becomes a victim.
While wire fraud and identity theft are familiar threats, a new era of sophisticated tools has escalated the danger. Today’s schemes are more than just deceptive emails; they are multilayered attacks designed to bypass standard security and result in devastating consequences.
For instance, account takeovers are one type of cybercrime that is sharply on the rise. A form of identity impersonation fraud, account takeovers involve cybercriminals impersonating financial institutions to steal money or information. Targets can be individuals, businesses, and organizations of varied sizes. With its high-cost transactions, real estate has emerged as a prime sector for fraudsters to target, with builders of all sizes at risk alongside title and escrow agents.
In an account takeover, cybercriminals impersonate the victim’s financial institution, typically through social engineering techniques, such as texts, calls, and emails, or through fraudulent websites, to gain access to their account. From there, the fraudsters compromise internal systems, capture banking credentials, alter security settings, and ultimately, steal funds directly from the victim’s accounts.
These attacks have been particularly successful because of their multilayered approach. Criminals are sharing keystroke-logging malware, often introduced through a previously compromised transaction party, that captures banking login credentials.
From there, fraudsters change online banking profiles and security protocols and add their own devices to receive multifactor authentication (MFA) codes, allowing them to initiate and approve fraudulent wire transfers directly.
Both the American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the FBI recently issued warnings about account takeovers, with ALTA stressing the “dangerous and increasingly sophisticated” nature of this type of fraud.
This ability to bypass typical protections has led to an uptick in account takeovers and significant financial losses for those affected. ALTA reported that this tactic had led to over $5 million in losses in the first two months of 2026, while the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reportedly received more than 5,100 complaints regarding account takeover fraud since January 2025, resulting in over $262 million in losses.
Despite the sophistication of account takeover attacks, there are best practices builders can follow to mitigate their exposure and risk.
1. Require MFA and dual controls for account changes within your financial institution.
Adding extra layers of authentication before allowing any account changes can stall or prevent total takeovers by removing the ability to easily change security settings, initiate or approve wires, and enroll new devices. With multifactor and dual approval, a second authorized user can prevent a fraudster from gaining unilateral control if one user’s credentials are compromised.
ALTA has outlined best practices for identity verification to guide account holders as these types of fraud attempts increase.
2. Stay cautious even when communications appear to come from trusted sources.
Caution is the name of the game in preventing account takeovers, so make sure to give a closer eye to communications—including emails, texts, and phone calls—even when they appear to come from a trusted party.
Verify unexpected attachments, details, or requests by calling a known, trusted number, verified independently from the communication you received.
3. Implement proper internal processes in case something does happen, with clearly defined paths to escalate the issue.
Fraudsters often take advantage of how a sense of urgency affects decision-making, using urgency-inducing language in their communications to prompt the account holder into quick action before they think things through.
Train staff to recognize and be wary of urgency-based manipulation tactics, and if something does happen, follow internal processes to properly escalate the issue. In wire fraud cases, every minute counts, and recovery of funds becomes much harder after the first 24 hours.
As fraud attempts and the technology behind them grow increasingly sophisticated, it’s important to know there are steps you can take to better protect yourself and your business. With account takeovers in particular, the best way to reduce the risk is to remain vigilant, add additional protections, and implement a clearly defined escalation process.
Contact a First American Home Builder Services Division representative today to learn more about fraud risk and how home builders can protect themselves.
Dewey Beach Buyer Sues Over $2.2M Wire Fraud in Closing
WDEL | February 16, 2026 | Matthew Pencek | COAST TV
A woman who was purchasing property in Dewey Beach has filed a federal lawsuit after more than $2.2 million in closing funds were diverted through what court records describe as a fraudulent email scheme.
Johanna Berkowitz filed the complaint Jan. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against John Doe Nos. 1–100, seeking to identify the people responsible and recover $2,209,240.11 that was wired to a bank account controlled by fraudsters.
According to the complaint, Berkowitz was under contract to buy real estate in Dewey Beach for $2.2 million, with closing scheduled for Nov. 21, 2025. On Nov. 17, 2025, she confirmed the final amount required to close as $2,209,240.11 with her real estate agent and brokerage, Charles Schwab.
On Nov. 19, 2025, Berkowitz received a settlement statement listing the same amount due. That same day, she received what the lawsuit describes as a spoofed email from title.closer.office@gmail.com, purporting to be from a real estate coordinator at the law firm representing her in the transaction.
The email provided wire instructions directing the closing funds to a Truist Bank account allegedly controlled by fraudsters.
Berkowitz’s brokerage, Schwab, processed the outgoing wire transfer Nov. 19, 2025, and confirmed the transfer of $2,209,240.11, the complaint states. Truist Bank later confirmed receipt of the funds into the account identified in the email.
According to the lawsuit, Truist reported that the funds were immediately withdrawn or redirected elsewhere.
The complaint alleges that unknown individuals gained unauthorized access to email communications or related systems involved in the closing process, allowing them to divert the money. Berkowitz claims the fraud involved access to “protected computer(s)” used in interstate commerce.
The lawsuit asserts violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. It also includes state law claims for conversion, trespass to chattels and unjust enrichment.
Berkowitz is seeking damages of no less than $2,209,240.11, along with punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, interest and injunctive relief. She is also asking the court to order the forfeiture of any property used to carry out the alleged scheme and to require the return of any stolen data.
Court records show preservation demands were issued to financial institutions and others involved in the closing beginning Nov. 26, 2025, and continued Dec. 3, 2025, as part of efforts to identify those responsible through banking records and IP logs.
Why Title Insurance Matters in the U.S.: UK Homeowner Declared “Dead” and Lost His House
ALTA website | February 17, 2026 | Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alto.org
A recent case out of the United Kingdom highlights just how vulnerable homeowners can be when fraudsters exploit weaknesses in property systems. In a complex case in Brentford, west London, 74-year-old Stanislaw Sokolowski returned home one day in early 2023 to find strangers removing his belongings. He shockingly discovered official records listed him as deceased and his home had been transferred to a fraudster.
According to reporting on the case, someone falsely claimed to be the executor of a deceased man with a similar name. Using forged probate documents and a fake will, the fraudster convinced the Land Registry to record a transfer of Sokolowski’s title. That allowed the property to be sold to a third party and financed with a mortgage. All without the real homeowner’s knowledge. A judge ultimately ruled in Sokolowski’s favor after a three-year legal battle and ordered the title restored, but the ordeal cost him more than $205,000 (£150,000) and his personal belongings were never recovered. In the U.S., a study found that 28% of title companies experienced at least one seller impersonation incident in 2023.
The Sokolowski case exemplifies what experts call probate and title fraud. This occurs when criminals forge documents or impersonate owners to wrongfully obtain property or financial benefits. While the specifics involve the UK’s Land Registry and probate system, the underlying risks are universal. If a title system lacks robust verification, forged instruments can be used to disrupt ownership and strip value from legitimate owners.
In the United States, the real estate and title insurance system includes critical countermeasures designed to help prevent exactly these kinds of fraudulent transfers and to protect consumers when fraud does occur. Unlike the U.S., where title insurance is almost always required, the UK system relies heavily on the Land Registry, making title insurance less common.
How Title Insurance Protects Against Fraud and Forgery in the U.S.
In U.S. real estate transactions, title insurance serves as a financial and legal safeguard that goes beyond traditional homeowner or lender protections. Here are four reasons why:
1. Comprehensive Title Search and Examination
Before a policy is issued, title professionals thoroughly search public records to identify existing liens, claims, encumbrances or irregularities that could affect ownership. This process is designed to reveal forged deeds, fraudulent transfers or hidden defects before a transaction closes.
2. Forgery and Fraud Coverage
Both the ALTA Owner’s Policy and ATLA Homeowner’s Policy cover buyers who fall victim to pre-purchase forgery. The ALTA Homeowner’s Policy also protects against a third party who fraudulently transfers the owner’s property in the future. For companies in the 46 states where regulators have approved these enhanced policies, 42% of customers, on average, chose policies that protect their property from forgery, including seller impersonation fraud, in the future. In 2023, 16% of title companies paid claims on transactions involving seller impersonation fraud.
3. Post-policy Protection
The title industry also developed two new policy endorsements that provide post-policy protection and build upon ALTA’s landmark Homeowner’s Policy of Title Insurance. The ALTA 49 Endorsement is designed to address the situation where the homeowner is purchasing an ALTA Owner’s Policy and would like post-policy coverage for deed or mortgage forgery, but where the ALTA Homeowner’s Policy is either not available, or is not offered to the homeowner. In addition, the ALTA 49.1 Endorsement is designed to address the situation where the homeowner has previously purchased an ALTA Owner’s Policy and would like future coverage for deed or mortgage forgery. These endorsements set the standards for forgery protection before and after closing.
4. Fraud-prevention Infrastructure
Title companies invest in identity verification, secure document handling, transaction monitoring and human review. These are all layers of defense that mitigate risk. Unlike automated or paper-only systems, this multi-layered approach makes it harder for criminals to manipulate records or impersonate owners. Also, many companies and county recorder offices in the U.S. provide property alert notifications that inform homeowners when any document is filed pertaining to their property.
Why It Matters for Homeowners and Lenders
Fraud and forgery are not just abstract risks. Data shows they can lead to substantial losses that exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars, particularly in refinance scenarios. The average cost for fraud and forgery claims is almost seven times higher than all other claim types from refinance transactions. Title insurance ensures that if fraud slips through initial defenses, the financial burden doesn’t fall on the innocent homeowner or the lending institution.
The UK case underscores the emotional and financial fallout when protections are insufficient. Unlike the U.S., where title insurance is almost always required, the UK system relies heavily on the Land Registry, making title insurance less common. In the U.S., title professionals examining title and title insurance play a vital role in preventing fraud, safeguarding homeownership and maintaining confidence in the housing market. For homeowners and lenders alike, that protection is not just a policy. It’s peace of mind.
ALTA provides several resources to educate industry professionals and consumers on how to spot warning signs—such as remote sellers, rushed closings, or inconsistent records—and how to verify ownership before proceeding with a transaction.
- Video: This video highlights red flags to spot seller impersonation fraud.
- Infographic: This handout highlights tips for consumers to protect themselves from seller impersonation and the different title insurance coverage options.
- Infographic: This handout provides tips to help verify and check state identification cards during an in-person notarization.
Two Michigan insurance providers suspended for mismanaging millions, failing to comply with audits
By Jack Nissen | Published July 21, 2025 11:59am EDT | Crime and Public Safety | FOX 2 Detroit
The Brief
- Two Michigan-based title insurance agencies have been suspended from working in Michigan amid allegations of millions of mismanaged funds.
- Rand Sre and Tobby Jablonski, both working out of Farmington Hills, ignored audit requests as concerns of abnormal transactions piled up.
- The state is looking for anyone else that believes they were affected by the business practices.
(FOX 2) – Millions in mismanaged funds, at least one foreclosure, and failures to cooperate with audits and a state investigation are among the allegations against two insurance agents based in Oakland County.
As a result, the state has since taken action against Peak Title of Michigan, Peak Title Agency, and the individuals who ran them.
Big picture view:
Two Michigan insurance agents have had their licenses suspended amid allegations they mismanaged millions of dollars housed in escrow funds while refusing to cooperate with investigation and audit requests.
At least one individual foreclosed on their home because payments did not clear.
Rand Sre and Tobby Rae Jablonski, both designated responsible licensed producers for respective insurance providers in Michigan, have been barred from doing business in Michigan for “intentionally or negligently misappropriating funds,” according to the state.
A notice from the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) alleges both individuals and the businesses they ran failed to use best practices and accounting methods, which poses an “imminent threat of harm.”
Unless their licenses were suspended, more people could be harmed because of “incompetence, untrustworthiness, and diversion of insurance funds.”
The backstory:
Contained in DIFS’ July notice is a rundown of various issues other parties have encountered while working with both Sre and Jablonski.
Sre runs Peak Title of Michigan Inc. while Jablonski runs Peak Title Agency Co., which are both based out of the same address in Farmington Hills, according to the state’s database of insurance agencies listed in Michigan.
Issues were first reported on Dec. 6 when appointments between an insurance title company and both Sre and Jablonski were canceled because neither cooperated with requests for an audit.
Then in March, Jablonski ignored a request from the state to conduct an audit – the first of multiple instances of refusing to cooperate with the state agency. Around April 22, another title insurance company learned of funds being improperly diverted from the business associated with Sre, who later sued him amid allegations they mismanaged $2.6 million in escrow funds.
Dig deeper:
While responding to an order from DIFS, Sre argued they could not comply with an order from the state because Jablonski had embezzled funds from the company run by Sre.
DIFS said Sre never told them of the alleged embezzlement.
In May, consumer complaints came in, with one arguing property taxes owed in 2023 and 2024 were never paid. The related ledger showed “multiple abnormalities,” including payments for utilities owed in December of 2024 not clearing until April of 2025.
Sre also collected premiums for an insurance policy without issuing the policy itself.
In a second complaint, Jablonski allegedly mismanaged $200,000 in escrow funds for a real estate transaction, forcing the owner to foreclose on their home.
Zoom Out:
A court-appointed receiver issued a report finding several issues with how both Sre and Jablonski had managed funds they were responsible for handling.
Among the largest abnormalities was a negative balance of $1.3 million that Sre could not reconcile.
The report also found Sre was aware that Jablonski was inappropriately wiring funds without documenting the transfers.
As a result, DIFS has suspended both individuals’ licenses amid concerns they “pose an imminent risk to the public’s health, safety, and welfare.”
What they’re saying:
DIFS director Anita Fox released a statement that if anyone had been affected by either individual, they should contact the department.
“Consumers should feel confident that their title agency is compliant with the law, maintains proper safeguards, and protects customers’ funds,” she said. “After conducting a thorough investigation, it was clear that immediate action against Peak Title of Michigan Inc. and Peak Title Agency Co. was necessary to ensure consumers are protected.”
“If you believe you have been affected, please call 877-999-6442 from Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or visit the department’s website and complete a complaint form.”
The Source: A report from the Department of Insurance and Financial Services was cited for this report.