An Arizona man is in serious trouble after he tried to use his name to sell another man’s property. According to local CBS News station Arizona’s Family, Nathan Lucas Underwood is accused of trying to sell a property belonging to a different Nathan Underwood, attempting to defraud the real homeowner by selling his $1.6 million condo out from under him.
Arizona’s Family reports that the faux Underwood attempted to pull off the real estate heist in April 2026, when he met with a real estate agent to try to sell the property. Meanwhile, the real Underwood had no idea any of this was going on while he was at home in Nebraska, and only found out thanks to a bit of luck… and a quick-thinking real estate agent.
Fortunately, everything worked out for the real Underwood, who was eventually alerted that something was amiss, prompting him to fly out to Arizona to see what was going on.
Now, the faux Underwood is facing felony charges and awaiting trial, where his prior arrest record could work against him.
Underwood Accessed the Condo After Stealing a Key
On April 17, Arizona’s Family reported that the faux Underwood pretended to be the owner of the Scottsdale condo, gaining access to the building by showing the concierge his Arizona ID and asking for the unit’s spare key. According to court documents seen by the publication, Underwood was given the key because his name matched that of the owner, which allowed him to access the unit.
With the spare key missing, the real Underwood’s cleaning crew couldn’t access the condo—which they tried to do on April 20—and they reported the issue to the Nebraska man. Just two days later, the faux Underwood met with a real estate pro to try and list the condo for sale, telling the agent a “crazy” story about how he came to own the condo and the LLC that was listed as part owner.
He explained to the real estate agent how he wanted to sell the condo quickly, and offered to list it for $1.3 million instead of its estimated value of $1.6 million. This, and the fact that Underwood never tried to discuss the agent’s listing fee, raised a few red flags for the real estate pro.
Meanwhile, Fox10 says the real Underwood was growing suspicious in Nebraska, so he flew out to Arizona on April 27 to see what was going on. Once he arrived, he found the condo in disarray and missing around $14,000 worth of personal items, prompting him to contact police on April 28.
The Faux Underwood Tried to Return to the Condo Months Later
Everyone put things together on July 2 when the faux Underwood once again tried to sell the condo and returned to the building. Police were then able to track him to a north-central Phoenix address, and later arrested him on July 27 as he exited a Bank of America. Officers found a meth pipe on him when he was taken into custody, and he was charged with multiple felonies, including second-degree burglary, fraudulent schemes, and aggravated taking the identity of another person.
Arizona’s Family notes that Underwood had also previously been arrested for pointing a gun at the repo man tasked with repossessing his car.
While this crime relied on the owner and the alleged criminal having the same name, there are plenty of different ways for people to try and steal another person’s property, including deed fraud. According to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center, the department received 12,368 complaints from homeowners regarding fraud and attempted fraud of real estate, which totaled $275.1 million.
While Underwood was lucky enough to figure out what was going on with his home quickly, not all homeowners get so lucky. If you’re worried about potential fraud, consider signing up with deed fraud protection services. You can reach out to your local county offices to find out what types of programs they offer, and whether their public records office has an alert system that notifies you when a document is recorded with your name on it.