Clay clerk joins effort to combat real estate fraud

Clay County Clerk of Court Tara Green joined the clerks from five nearby counties to announce the availability of a tool that will help property owners prevent real estate fraud.

Green, along with Putnam County Clerk Matt Reynolds, Baker Clerk Stacie D. Harvey, Duval’s Jody Phillips, Nassau clerk John A. Crawford and Brandon J. Patty of St. Johns County held a press conference on the Duval County Courthouse steps to announce the program.

Phillips said the clerks are presenting a unified front to fight scammers in their communities.

“The FBI has said…that property fraud is the fastest growing white-collar crime in our country,” he said, “and so it’s something we as clerks feel like that we should stay out in front of, and that’s why we’re here.”

Most real estate fraud occurs when a scammer files a false deed with a county clerk’s office, transferring the title from the valid owner to the fraudster.

Green said a 2019 Federal Trade Commission report stated that 1.4 million Floridians lost over $84 million in fraudulent activity that year alone.

“So, it should become no surprise to anyone that yet again fraudsters are targeting Florida residents trying to scam homes and land out from under unsuspecting owners in many cases using official records recording tricks,” she said.

Green added that what was once a South Florida problem has made its way to Northeast Florida.

Harvey said that with electronic filing services, scammers can now record fraudulent deeds without physically going to a county clerk’s office.

“They are just filing fraudulent Deeds, and we don’t even know where they’re coming from,” he said. “They’re miles and miles away.”

The clerks said property owners can protect themselves by signing up for a service that will notify them if any document has been recorded on their real estate. Owners may access the service by going to ProtectYourFloridaProperty.com or http://www.clerksagainstfraud.com/.

“Using technology, thieves can steal from you from around the world,” added Crawford. “They’re invisible now because of technology. We might not stop them at our door, but we can stop them at yours. If you get signed up and someone tries to record something false on your property, you will get a notification. You’re going to get it right away, but it doesn’t work if you don’t sign up, so please go sign up.”

Reynolds said that two weeks ago, a local realtor told him that the real estate professional noted a legal notice for a tax deed.

“He looked into it a little further and started digging and noticed that the property had changed hands a couple of times,” Reynolds said. “He had known the original owners of the property.”

Reynolds said the realtor asked the original owners about the property transfers and unpaid taxes, and the owners were unaware of any of the transactions.

“Had those property owners utilized the free service to register with the clerk’s office,” he said, “they would have gotten a notification the very first time that a deed was filed on the property to change the owner of record.”