District Attorney’s Office Combats Organized Real Estate Fraud in San Luis Obispo County

Author: District Attorney
Date: 1/29/2026 2:50 PM

The District Attorney’s Office continues to be vigilant and proactive combating organized crime groups targeting San Luis Obispo County with real estate fraud. A free seminar will be held on January 30, 2026, to help professionals and the public learn how to identify, prevent, and respond to fraud.

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District Attorney Dan Dow urges all real estate professions and property owners to be vigilant against ongoing threats of real estate fraud in San Luis Obispo County.

How the latest scheme works

• They begin by impersonating legitimate property owners in San Luis Obispo County.
• They then remotely contact unsuspecting real estate agents and request the property be listed for sale. 
• When an offer is accepted from a legitimate buyer, a transaction is initiated with a title company.
• The impersonators request the documents get sent to them by way of email, citing they are out of the area and cannot meet with the escrow officer in person. 
• Often, the impersonators claim they are undergoing cancer treatment and must utilize their own notary. The required escrow documents containing forged signatures and a fraudulent notary stamp are then shipped back to the title company. 

The first known incident was reported to the Office of the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit in April of 2023.  Investigators immediately created an information sharing network with all of the local REALTOR Associations and other entities involved in real estate transactions. 

This provided real estate professionals with a direct point of contact in reporting suspected real estate fraud. Since the communication network was created, District Attorney Investigators have identified 120 properties in San Luis Obispo County that have been targeted. 

Many of the properties have been targeted multiple times. In almost all instances, a potential sale was blocked due to this reporting system. 

There are no successfully completed fraudulent sales in San Luis Obispo County that have been reported to us as of this date. 

District Attorney Investigators have conducted numerous covert operations to learn the strategies being deployed in these fraud schemes. They have identified 24 notaries whose commission stamps have been compromised and 70 bank accounts that were being used for the movement of the funds. Many of the accounts were opened by people whom they themselves had fallen for a different fraud scheme.

After a year-long covert operation related to an attempted fraudulent sale of a vacant lot, District Attorney Investigators baited an individual to San Luis Obispo on the premise he would be collecting the proceeds from the fraudulent sale. 

On November 21, 2025, Oluwaseun Okuwa, a Nigerian and resident of Miami Gardens, Florida, met with undercover investigators at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport after he exited his flight. Okuwa was shown a certified check, issued in his name in the amount of $304,000.00. 

Okuwa then signed a document claiming he was a family member of one of the property owners and that he had been directed to collect the proceeds from the sale of the property on their behalf.  The property owner had previously confirmed they did not know Okuwa and had never authorized anyone to try and sell their vacant lot. 

Okuwa was arrested by the undercover District Attorney Investigators after he signed the document.  He was charged with attempted theft by false pretenses and has since pled guilty to attempted grand theft, which is a felony.  

Investigators obtained a search warrant to conduct a forensic analysis of the content of his cellular phone. The forensic analysis was conducted by the District Attorney’s Office Central Coast Cyber Forensic Lab. 

The analysis netted additional evidence implicating Okuwa to other criminal fraud activity to include a fraudulent real estate transaction in Virginia. The property owner and handling escrow company were immediately notified and the transaction was stopped. Text communications between Okuwa and members of a Transnational Organized Crime Group* were also located in Okuwa’s phone. The communications included the orchestration of fraudulent activity. 

Okuwa was sentenced by the Honorable Michael S. Frye on January 22, 2026, to serve 12 months in San Luis Obispo County Jail for Attempted Grand Theft, and six months for Identity Theft.  

Here is a copy of the charging document.  Here is the defendant’s booking photo. 

*According to the FBI, Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) groups are associations of individuals who operate, wholly or in part, by illegal means. There is no single structure under which TOC groups function—they vary from hierarchies to clans, networks, and cells, and may evolve into other structures. TOC groups are looking to make money and often commit crimes such as: drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, firearms trafficking, illegal gambling, extortion, creating and selling counterfeit goods, property smuggling, and cyber crime. The vast sums of money involved can compromise legitimate economies and have a direct impact on governments through the corruption of public officials. To learn more, see the FBI resource here. 

FREE FRAUD SEMINARS: January 30, 2026

On Friday, January 30, 2026, the District Attorney’s Office is hosting a FREE three-part fraud seminar that is open to the public and will be held at the Board of Supervisors Chambers in downtown San Luis Obispo beginning at 9:00 a.m. 

One of the sessions is directed towards real estate sales professionals to educate them on the various real estate fraud schemes that are occurring in San Luis Obispo County. 

The District Attorney Office is encouraging all real estate sales professionals to attend this seminar and to be made aware of the fraud alert system that has been created. Real estate sales professionals are encouraged to report suspicious activity related to sales and purchases directly to Investigator Eric Vitale’s email; [email protected]. 

Here is a flyer for the Fraud Forum

Below are links to previous press releases regarding real estate fraud:

District Attorney Urges Real Estate Professionals To Be On Alert for Criminal Fraud by Thieves

District Attorney’s Office Successfully Stops Nearly $9 Million in Fraudulent Property Sales

District Attorney Releases PSA Warning Property Owners of Title Theft

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