News Release

Recorder’s Office Launches Free Fraud Protection Service
Property owners can sign up online to monitor documents and receive notice of activity

(Dec. 31, 2008) – The Allen County Recorder’s Office is expanding access to a service that allows users to keep a watchful eye for signs of potentially fraudulent activity involving their property.
 
Property Fraud Alert, first made available to paying subscribers in January 2008, can now be accessed for free by anyone.  The service was previously available at a cost of $12.95 per year.
 
“In our current economic climate, people are making tough choices over what to do with every dollar,” said Allen County Recorder John McGauley.  “But the same tough times are making property and mortgage fraud even more of a potential threat.  Opening the Property Fraud Alert service to everyone and making Allen County less attractive to criminals is in the best interest of the community.”
 
A common property fraud scenario involves a criminal filing a bogus deed making it appear that the actual owner had transferred ownership of a parcel to someone else.  The criminal then takes that deed to a bank, fraudulently obtains a mortgage and then disappears with a large amount of money.
 
While it can happen to anyone, perpetrators of property fraud often prey on the elderly, people in long-term care facilities, absentee property owners and owners who spent large parts of the year out of town.  While these crimes have yet to occur in Allen County in significant numbers, property fraud is a serious problem in other parts of Indiana.  In April 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation included Indiana among 10 states that are “significantly affected by mortgage fraud.”
 
“The best protection we can offer against property fraud is proactive protection,” McGauley said. “Everyone should take advantage of this service before this crime infects Allen County.”
 
Property owners can sign up by going to www.allencountyrecorder.us/pfa.  Signup takes only a few moments and requires only the person’s name and a phone number or e-mail address.  The system monitors approximately 70 different document types and delivers an alert by e-mail or telephone if the user’s name appears on a document filed in the Allen County Recorder’s Office. 
 
Most alerts received will be for legitimate documents, such as those filed when a home is bought or sold.  But if the property owner is concerned about a document he or she is unaware of, the alert contains information that allows the owner to investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
 

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