White-collar crime may go undetected for years until the cover-up falls apart or an insider

I believe that this is a type of real estate fraud. The crime would not be discovered unless another party also claimed to own the home. This didn’t happen until the family returned from their trip.

It would take a while to investigate this crime. Unraveling it would involve looking at the original owner’s documentation, the new owner’s documentation, working with the escrow company and the county clerk’s office. It would need to be determined which documents were originals, which were phony, and what signatures were forged. It isn’t likely that the phony real estate agent or that the stolen property will ever be located. During the investigation, the original family would be out of luck. They would need to find other housing. After the investigation, the new owners would realize they had spent their retirement savings buying a stolen house.