Title Theft
 

My last assignment at work was as a Detective Lieutenant in the Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau. I learned a great deal about the scams being employed by bad guys that seem impossible, but are done everyday. One of them is Title Theft and this is a nasty one that can ruin someone's life. Basically, a bad guy completes a "quitclaim deed" that transfers some or all of a person's interest in a property to another person. All that's needed is for it to be notarized and filed as an instrument with the respective Assessor's Office. The bad guy then takes out a loan on the property to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are many stories out there, including the attached one. There are no safeguards to prevent someone from doing this; however, you can contact your local Assessor's Office and register for an email or text notification if someone files any type of paperwork ("instrument") against your property for free. The Assessor's Office will send you this notification within 48 hours of the filing. If so inclined, read the attached story to get a better understanding of this crime.

You can register your home with the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office for free and receive a notification within 48 hours of a legal document (“instrument”) being filed. Read the attached story first and then click on the link for the Assessor’s Office to register.

ARTICLE

Danielle Antosz
Sat, November 2, 2024 at 5:03 AM PDT 4 min read

Larry and Dreama Bilby thought their under-construction home in Tampa, Florida was safe. Although they weren’t living on the property, they monitored it via home security cameras — which is how they noticed two strangers kept visiting the house. Then, they received a notification from their county clerk's office about a change to the deed on their home.

Scammers had used a shockingly simple method to claim the Bilby home: a fraudulent quitclaim deed, filed at the county clerk's office for less than a dollar.

“Just like that, your house is stolen. It’s gone,” Larry Bilby told ABC reporters. “It only cost 70 cents and some paperwork.”

The Bilbys’ nightmare is not an isolated incident. Florida prosecutor Michael Lennon told reporters that Michelle Cherry and Victor Rodriguez targeted several local properties, making multiple trips to the county clerk’s office.

Using forged signatures on fraudulent quitclaim deeds, the couple claimed ownership of at least three properties in the Tampa area. Both Cherry and Rodriguez were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and are awaiting trial.

Quitclaim deeds appealing for fraudsters

A quitclaim deed is a legal document used to quickly transfer ownership of a property from one person to another. It releases a person’s ownership of a property without specifying what their rights or interests were.

Typically, quitclaims are used to transfer properties without a sale — for example, when a parent gives the family home to their adult child. These deeds require minimal documentation, which makes them appealing to fraudsters looking to claim ownership of properties they have no legal right to.

In cases like the Bilbys’, scammers forge signatures and file these deeds at the county clerk's office, effectively stealing the home by transferring ownership without consent. This tactic allows the scammer to secure loans against the property or even sell it to unsuspecting buyers.

Real estate fraud growing concern

Real estate fraud is a growing issue, and Florida officials are calling for legal changes to make quitclaim deed fraud more difficult. In the meantime, there are practical steps you can take to protect your property.

The Bilbys credit their county clerk's property fraud alerts with notifying them of the change in their deed, which allowed officials to catch the fraudsters in action. Check if your local county clerk's office offers property fraud alerts and set them up. These alerts will notify you via phone or email if changes are made to your deed.

Keep a close eye on your property. Even if you aren't living there, security cameras can help you spot suspicious activity. Most fraudsters look for properties they think are abandoned, hoping their crimes go unnoticed.

Fraudsters often gather details from public records and online data, so limit the information you share online. Set up digital delivery for important documents like utility and phone bills, especially if you aren’t living at the property. Fraudsters may steal mail and use that information to further their schemes.

Until stricter regulations are in place to limit this type of fraud, stay vigilant and set up fraud alerts.

This is a link to the above story - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/just-stolen-tampa-couple-home-120300908.html


This is a link to the Assessor’s Office https://assessor.lacounty.gov/news-information/enotification

Wow, if your property is Homesteaded does this help keep it safe?

Unfortunately it does not. Home deeds are public record and anyone can view them. It is a flawed system and there are little to no safeguards in place. The bad guys are very sophisticated in this type of crime.

Thanks David! Guess I have some work to dohttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gif

It's a very simple process that should take no more than 20 minutes to complete, but will definitely save a homeowner from financial ruin. Plus, it's free!

I guess I need to check and see if the Orange County assessor offers the same thing.

David, you are Awesome! I just did as you said and it took 5 minutes to do and is now done !! Thank you very much Sir!!!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gif

My county does this automatically, cool.. I just checked - thanks anyway !

Seems like literally one of the easiest crimes to undo. They forged my signature judge, send em to jail and give me my house back........its right where I left it.

Besides the hastle what am I missing?

I signed up for notification from our County a few years ago - along with freezing my credit reports etc., etc. It's a shame you have to be always on guard against scammers. Seems to me the local governments should pass some ordinances to help.

Orange County doesn't offer anything like this. It does send out a notice about a month after any changes are recorded, which doesn't help much IMO.

They usually receive large amounts of dollars before anyone notices

I don’t understand. It’s the banks who get scammed out of money. Why would I be liable?

Actually, it is one of the more complicated fraud investigations to conduct and very few law enforcement agencies have the resources to thoroughly investigate. Most of the time, the victim has no idea that the quitclaim deed has been filed. The bad guys change the address of record to a virtual PO Box so the true homeowner has no idea the crime of title theft has occurred. The bad guys take out loans on the property in the hundreds of thousands and the delinquent notes get sent to the virtual PO Box. By the time the owner learns of the title theft, the house is in foreclosure and the owner is EVICTED by the bank. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer and sometimes years to prove the wrongdoing. In the meantime, the owner is out of his/her house. It is devastating to the victim and the bad guys do these types of crimes to multiple homeowners simultaneously amounting to millions of dollars in loss.

I'm happy to provide resources that help protect our Pelicans!

Thanks for the tip, our county auditor has a system for monitoring changes, I signed up.

Thank you, DavidI. This thread motivated me to look up how to do this in Martin County, FL (used to be OC, but moved a few years ago). They have a dedicated webpage for this. I signed up for their alerting service under a number of different combos of my name and my wife’s. Six in in total.

Your thread woke me up to this. Scary.