The anatomy of a stolen home — and how 3 suspects got caught

It began as a typical phone call for Niroosan (Niro) Vivekanantharajah — someone who found him on Google, asking for his help in closing a home sale.

The Toronto real estate lawyer told CBC News he agreed to work with the clients, who were selling a home in Scarborough. He says they had all the required paperwork and good knowledge of the process.

"To be completely honest — they were perfect clients. They were really well prepared," said Vivekanantharajah, who says they shared with him property tax documents, proof of a vacant home tax declaration and two pieces of identification: an Ontario driver's licence and a permanent resident card. He checked the IDs over a virtual Zoom call, where the client held a driver's licence up to her face. Photos were also submitted to his office for review.

But within the span of a few weeks, those clients would be arrested by Toronto police, accused of executing a sophisticated title fraud to sell a home that did not belong to them. It's a series of events put in place largely by Vivekanantharajah, who became suspicious after a call from the bank. 

"I guess I got lucky and I just went with my intuition, but it could have easily happened to me as well."

Vivekanantharajah is sharing his story to alert others about just how easy it is for some to facilitate this kind of fraud. A common thread in every title fraud story that CBC News has covered is the use of fraudulent identification, such as an Ontario driver's licence. Experts say the IDs are becoming more and more advanced — making it increasingly difficult to thwart this kind of fraud.

Vivekanantharajah's suspicions began after the deal was closed. The single family detached home in Scarborough sold for $840,000 in a private sale and wasn't listed on MLS — the platform used by real estate agents and brokers to share information about properties for sale. The proceeds were then transferred to the alleged fraudster's account. 

He says he received a call from the bank where the funds were being held asking for him to verify the identity of his client in order to release the money.

He says the bank employee flagged to him that the account was new, and that this was the first transaction. She also flagged a potential issue with the permanent resident card being used as an ID.

"I couldn't get confirmation that it was fake. They just said 'It's potentially fake, but we're not sure.' "

The employee told Vivekanantharajah that if he could verify the client's identity, she would release the funds, but he said he wanted to be completely sure before doing that. So he and his associate made a plan and decided to play detective — by visiting the home that had been sold.

"We just winged it, to be honest." he said. "We didn't even think it was going to work at all."

Vivekanantharajah says the home in question had mail piling up outside, which was the first red flag for him, then he noticed porch door was locked, so he couldn't get in to ring the bell.

"So I'm like, 'How do people knock on the door? How do they even get mail or deliveries?' "