Property Fraud Alert
PROPERTY FRAUD ALERT SERVICE – A FREE Solution
Property and Mortgage Fraud is considered one of the fastest growing white-collar crimes in the United States, and in FLORIDA it is the #3 most active fraud activity. By filing fake deeds, scammers appear to own property, and can fraudulently rent or sell property without the knowledge of the true owner, or apply for a loan or mortgage on the property in your name, and take the cash and quickly disappear. This can seriously impact the homeowner’s credit rating, or ability to sell or rent the property.
All County Recorder Offices are required to record documents that meet requirements authorized by law, so this is how some fraudulent paperwork can occasionally spread into the system. If a document is properly executed and presented with payment, it is the responsibility of the Office to record the document.
Have you ever received a call from someone who claims to be a County Clerk or employee? County Clerks occasionally issues general alerts to make people aware of schemes where people impersonate Clerks in order to get others to send money or disclose personal information, such as their Social Security number or bank account numbers, but not specific Property Fraud Alerts
Clerk and Comptroller employees do not initiate phone calls requesting payment by phone, and do not request personal financial information. Protecting yourself against telephone based scams is simple. Just hang up. Unless you have initiated the call, never give out your personal information over the telephone.
If you receive a call and are unsure about it, write down as much information as you can, then call the Clerks Office to determine whether the caller’s claims are legitimate.
If you think you may have been the victim of a scam, you should also contact your local law enforcement agency or the Florida Division of Consumer Services at (800) HELP-FLA (Florida Residents) or (850) 410-3800 from outside of Florida.
Naturally, several dozen marketing services have sprung up with a new service to “monitor” your Property Records for you and report any changes that have occurred on documents recorded in your name. The Fees they ask for range from $7-$30 per month, with the average “protection package” being about $149 per year. The little-known secret is that they are using the very same notification service that Banks use to watch changes in mortgages in Deeds, and you are able to subscribe to this service with the county yourself completely free of charge.
Within the last year, the federal government has encouraged all state governments to develop a free notification service for property owners to help combat fraud, and the counties of most states have adopted their format. This PROPERTY FRAUD ALERT SERVICE is different from their usual CONSUMER FRAUD SERVICE, because it specifically covers Deeds and Property Documents signed in your name or your company name (but NOT any civil court records).
Each County has a phone number and a website link where you can register your name, the name of your spouse, and the names of any of your companies or partners, which may hold interest in properties within the county. Anyone can register for this fraud alert service (even if you do not own the property) and you can register as many names, companies and variances of spelling as you desire at no cost.
Once you register all the names, you will receive an e-alert to your email within 24-48 hours whenever a document is recorded in the County Land Records using one of those names. This only provides alerts in that county, so if you have property in other counties, you will need to register there as well.
It is possible to receive an e-alert that may belong to another person with the same name. The e-alert will ALSO provide you with a link to the document in the County Official Records. You will be able to view the document to determine if it is of concern to you, then react or do nothing.
Here are a few FLORIDA County Links for your convenience. You can register online at no cost without ever having to come into the office in person. For links to your own county anywhere nationwide just Google “Property Fraud Alert (your county)“
COUNTIES
Hillsborough https://www.hillsclerk.com/Additional-Services/Property-Fraud-Alert
Manatee http://clerkofcircuitcourt.com/Searches/propertyalerts.aspx
Sarasota https://secure.sarasotaclerk.com/ORFraudAlerts.aspx
Charlotte https://or.charlotteclerk.com/recording/fraudalert
Lee https://www.leeclerk.org/services/property-fraud-alert-services
Collier https://apps.collierclerk.com/record-search/Official-Land-Records-Risk-Alert
OPTIONAL SECOND PROTECTION – Finally, if you want a maximum safeguard to make sure illegal mortgages or transfers never take place (even for 24 hours), you have the additional option of filing a simple one page REQUEST FOR NOTICE in the Deed Office directly on your property stating that you are the TRUSTEE (or EQUITABLE OWNER) of the Following Property (List the LEGAL DESCRIPTION and PARCEL NUMBER), and that all parties should contact you in advance of any encumbrances or transfers to determine the current status. Then you close with the Name and Address of the Party to Notify. Cost to file is $20 and it assures that no one will process any paperwork on the property without first checking with the contact name.
We do not offer or provide legal advice, so you should contact an attorney who can help you for minimal cost, or you can review some of these already filed in the Recorder’s Office. Basically, the single NOTICE page needs to have a 3” Margin on the top, and would look something like this:
- You type in the name and address of the preparer” on the top left inside the margin
- The county recording stamp will end up in the top right inside the margin
3. The Title should be “REQUEST FOR NOTIFICATION”
4. Identify the Party as “JOHN DOE, Equitable Owner” or “XYZ LLC, TRUSTEE” of
5. Identify the Property ”(LEGAL DESCRIPTION, PARCEL NUMBER, ADDRESS”)
6. State Your Message “and is requesting a Written Notification in advance of any party wishing to Transfer or Encumber subject property so they may be advised of the current status”
7. Give them the Name and Address for Notification
“please send any notification to the party and address shown below”
“Trustee, YXZ LLC, 123 Main Street Anytown, USA”
Now one Caveat – FRAUD ALERT NOTIFICATIONS are just set up in the counties computer systems and usually do not show up under the property recording files (leaving you with continued privacy). The Optional Request For Notification however, is definitely filed under the Properties legal description files and will show up each time anyone reviews the records. This can generate a higher number of marketing flyers being mailed to your notification address, and will even more clearly disclose the name and location of the actual property owners. If you are more interested in preserving maximum privacy, then just register for the Property Fraud Alerts since they are discreetly registered under a name, and not a property, and will arrive in your email system within 24-48 hours directly by the county.
We hope the free Fraud Alert Notifications will be useful to you and will save you money by not having to subscribe to high priced and unnecessary third party Fraud Alert Services. We invite you to review this article and all similar helpful articles at our main website www.usa1000.com,
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