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Property Fraud Alert Service – Watch Your Back!

Justin McClelland
1 min read

There is a service offered in a select number of counties called, Property Fraud Alert, which, after you sign-up, runs a query against any new documents recorded within the county of your choice.  The primary purpose for this service is to help stop mortgage and property fraud.  If any document recorded within your county lists your name as either the grantor (person granting title to real estate, or “seller”) or the grantee (person being granted title to real estate, or “buyer”), you are immediately sent an email alert containing the following information:

  • County Location
  • Document Number
  • Document Type
  • Recorded Date
  • Party Name (the matched personal or business name)

This notification service will aid you in taking prompt action if, for instance, someone fraudulently records a document at the county, listing you as the seller of your home, which you aren’t selling! I personally signed-up for this service about a year ago after I had stumbled upon the website.  I had forgotten all about my (free) subscription to this service until one day I received an email that stated the following:

ALERT:

Dear subscriber, a document has recently been recorded that matches the monitor criteria you have provided McClelland, Justin.

The document information is:

Location: Champaign, IL

Document Number: 2009R35226

Document Type: OTHER DEEDS

Recorded Date: 12/15/2009 12:00:00 AM

Matched Party Name: GRANTEE JUSTIN MCCLELLAND

Please visit www.propertyfraudalert.com/nextsteps or call 1-800-728-3858 for information.

If you feel you have received this message in error or you wish to modify your monitor criteria, please contact Property Fraud Alert Customer Service at 1-800-728-3858

This alert came within hours of me recording a contract on a house at the county recorder’s office.  So “watch your back” and sign-up with Property Fraud Alert.  It’s free of charge in most counties.

Image by Txspiked

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.