Register Of Deeds Implements New System To Alert Property Owners To Forged Deed, Real Estate Title-Hijacking Scams

In Grand Haven, Michigan, the Muskegon Chronicle reports:

• The Ottawa County Register of Deeds office is encouraging everyone in the county who owns land to sign up for a simple program that might save property owners thousands of dollars and years of aggravation. The program, Property Fraud Alert, allows those registered to be notified every time a property with their name on it is registered with the county. “Most people don’t realize that property and mortgage fraud is the fastest growing white-collar crime in the country according to statistics provided by the FBI,” said Ottawa County Register of Deeds Gary Scholten. [...] “It’s like a smoke detector for your property,” Scholten said.

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• Scammers usually record a fraudulent quit-claim deed with a county register of deeds office, complete with the all of the legal transaction information and forged signatures and then let it sit for several weeks unbeknownst to the property owner. “Then, the scammers go to a local bank and apply for a mortgage for upgrades to the home and often walk away with $100,000 or more,” said Ernest Riggen, chief executive officer of the Fidlar Technologies.(1)

• “While the real owner of the property does not owe the money, the bank or mortgage company often comes after the homeowner and tries to collect the money the bank has now lost. It can cost the homeowner thousands of dollars to get the matter resolved. It is a lot like identity theft.” Often, Fidlar said, scammers hit the homes of “snowbirds” who are gone for months at a time and don’t know there is a problem until it is too late.

For the story, see Ottawa County launches new program for property owners (Electronic recording system one of three operating in Michigan counties).

(1) Even if cases like this result in successful criminal prosecutions against the scammers, the burden typically remains on the victimized property owner to file a civil lawsuit to establish that the forgery occurred in order to void or cancel both the illegal title transfer and any fraudulently-obtained mortgage scored by the scammer, thereby quieting the title to the property in the rightful owner's name.