Story by Trisha Hendricks 

If you've flown out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, you've probably seen CLEAR, the technology that verifies your identity in seconds.  Now that same kind of identity check is showing up at the closing table, where people sign over homes and move large sums of money.

Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company has partnered with CLEAR to verify buyers and sellers as part of the closing process, adding a layer of protection against fraud.  "It actually utilizes the CLEAR that's at the airport," said Tonya Lively, vice president of Arizona national commercial operations and escrow operations manager at Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company in Phoenix. She said the company "has now partnered with CLEAR to make sure that we have the rightful owners of property that are transferring deeds at closing."

How the verification works

Lively said sellers take a selfie and upload a photo of their driver's license or passport, either through an app or in the title office. Buyers go through the same steps. The information is sent through CLEAR's verification process.

Once a person is verified, "we can proceed with closing that transaction, knowing that we've got the rightful seller and the rightful person to execute those documents," Lively said.

Arizona's scam losses

Arizona ranks sixth in the nation for money lost to scams and cybercrime, according to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report. Arizonans reported losing more than $630 million in 2025 and filed nearly 29,000 complaints. The ranking is based on total dollars reported, not per capita.

What deed fraud looks like

Whitten said another threat is the fraudulent conveyance deed.

"A fraudulent conveyance deed is essentially somebody that does not own the property pretending that they are the owner of the property," Whitten said. "They're usually forging a signature and a lot of times also forging the notary."

The fraudster then files the deed so public records show the property in their name or in the name of a company they control, Whitten said. From there, the fraudster can sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.

"You have a seller who was an innocent bystander, had no idea what was going on, and they've got somebody else claiming that they own their home or their commercial property," Whitten said.

How to protect yourself

Verify wire instructions by phone. Lively said to call a trusted number and not the one in the email. "Use a Google search that's not just the phone number that's on that email," she said.

Be wary of mid-deal changes. "Wire instructions being changed in the middle of transaction is not common," Lively said.

Check the email address closely. Spoofed addresses can be off by "a dash that's being added, or an S that turns into a Z," she said.

Sign up for property alerts. Whitten said Arizona homeowners can "sign up to get alerts" when something is recorded against their property, whether it's "a fraudulent deed or somebody else gets a mortgage and puts it against your property." Then, he said, "at least you know about it as opposed to finding out about it five-plus years later."

Lean on your circle. Whitten said a good title company and an experienced agent or attorney help buyers know what's normal. "Don't be afraid to pick up the phone," he said.

Don't let excitement or pressure rush you. Whitten said fraudsters often push people to move quickly, and excited buyers and sellers can roll through red flags. Lively said a seller in a big hurry is a warning sign agents watch for.

"It's always better to pause and make sure it's correct," Lively said. She said she would rather see a one-day delay in interest "than be sending out hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that are going to the wrong place."

What's next

Lively called the CLEAR partnership "the new standard" and said the company will keep adapting as fraudsters change tactics.

"We just don't want it to happen on our watch," Lively said. "So, whatever we can do to be preventative."