Protect yourself from forgery, fraud

Every year in San Diego County dozens of real estate fraud cases are referred to our office for potential prosecution. Since buying a home is one of the biggest financial invest­ments people make, when bad actors cheat victims out of house and home, the effects are financially devastating.

With a few forged documents, scammers can satisfy the re­cording requirements with the County Recorder, thereby changing title to the property and effectively stealing owner­ship rights. This is title fraud. Bad actors also use imperson­ation to swindle million-dollar homes from rightful owners or heirs. This is forgery, identity theft, filing a false instrument and grand theft.

Last fiscal year, more than $300 million in real estate fraud was perpetrated against San Diego property owners. It’s an egregious figure for an egre­gious crime.

You might be wondering how this type of fraud was possible. There are several ways fraud­sters use illegal methods to worm their way into your home, including:

Creating forged title docu­ments and filing them with the Office of the County Recorder.

Impersonating the true owner and sending phony account in­formation for escrowed funds.

Falsely listing property, par­ticularly vacant property, for sale.

Recording fraudulent liens on property.

Until recently, title fraud crimes went undiscovered until the homeowner had a reason to check on title during a refinance or sale of their home.

The District Attorney’s Office fights this type of fraud with a dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators who work col­laboratively with the Assessor/ Recorder/County Clerk’s office to bring fraudsters to justice. However, often the damage to victims has already been done.

The San Diego County Asses­sor/Recorder/County Clerk Jor­dan Marks launched a system called Owner Alert, that will protect homeowners through a Recording Notification Service, free to all members of the pub­lic. Consumers may register on­line to receive an e-mail alert within 48 hours whenever a document is recorded on a reg­istered property. Homeowners can register up to five names and five Assessor’s Parcel Num­bers (APN). This service will al­low consumers to get ahead of fraudsters before they’ve had the opportunity to do real dam­age to a property.

Previously, there were no sys­tems in place to notify the right­ful owner that title had been stolen. This gave fraudsters valuable time to obtain loans using the property as collateral or when the property is vacant, install renters and even sell the home to an unsuspecting buyer.

Consumers may register on­line by going to the San Diego County Assessor / Recorder / County Clerk website at: https:// arccprn.sandiegocounty.gov/

Here are some tips to avoid title fraud:

Sign up for Owner Alert.

Search the official County in­dex for documents previously recorded under your name and your property.

Use caution with online sig­nature applications such as Docusign – read the full docu­ment to ensure it’s the correct contract and keep a copy of the signed version.

If you have a second home or vacant home, check it regularly to ensure there are no squat­ters, unwanted renters or fraud­sters attempting to occupy the home – this can be as simple as installing an internet-based webcam at the home.

Ensure your property tax bill is paid on time and is in your name.

Ensure all your utilities are paid on time and are in your name.

Continue to take steps to pro­tect yourself from basic identity theft.

If you believe you were the victim of a title fraud, report the incident to a local police agency or request a San Diego District Attorney Real Estate Fraud Complaint Form at realestate­fraudcomplaints@sdcda.org. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.sdc­da.org/preventing/real-estate-fraud/.

As your District Attorney, I’m committed to increasing com­munication and accessibility between the DA’s Office and the public. I hope these consumer and public safety tips have been helpful.