MOUNT VERNON — A free service offered through the Knox County Recorder’s Office helps protect residents against fraudulent activities relating to their property.
The service, hosted by COTT Systems, is an opt-in program called PropertyCheck. It alerts residents when official documents are recorded on their property.
Any activity associated with the name of a person, an address, or a parcel number triggers an alert via email or text message. Knox County Recorder Tanner Salyers said the service eliminates the time residents would have to spend doing their own search on their name or property.
Salyers said that PropertyCheck will not stop potential fraud; rather, it is an alert system that sends out alerts for legitimate filings as well as potential fraud items.
“It works much the same way your bank account would if it saw an unusual charge on your account,” Salyers explained. “The bank wouldn’t block the charge from going through, but it would notify you via text or email of suspicious activity, thus allowing you to take action right away instead of getting a surprise down the road.”
Anything recorded on a record generates a PropertyCheck alert, but Salyers said the most commonly disputed items tend to be liens. Title theft, which has been increasing in recent years, is another potential issue.
“A thief could refinance a mortgage on a home, attempting to cash out the equity and walk away with the difference. Of course, they won’t be paying the new mortgage, so the property owner could face foreclosure,” he said. “Or a thief could open a home equity line of credit in someone’s name, taking out the equity on your home for another loan and not making the payment.”
Salyers said thieves tend to target unoccupied vacation homes or rental properties.
“They’ll try and use a forged deed to sell the home and profit without you knowing,” he explained. “They’ll attempt to con seniors or homeowners in crisis with an offer of ‘refinancing,’ which of course is very popular right now given low interest rates. The deal is then documented as an actual home sale transferring ownership to the thief.
“There’s also what we call ‘paper terrorism,’ where individuals with grudges file fictitious documents with malicious intent to cause damage to individuals either for financial reasons, court-related reasons, or other nefarious purposes,” he added.
The service works 24/7, and there is no fee to use the program. Residents can sign up through the Knox County Recorder’s website. Assistance is available for those who wish to sign up.
“I want to stress that there are numerous barriers through finance professionals, real estate professionals, lawyers, and finally our office, who are all well-trained to stop these issues along the way,” Salyers said. “But these instances do happen and thieves are getting more sophisticated. As a result, this is happening more and more often. And sometimes these aren’t random strangers doing this; it’s family, which makes folks let their guard down.”
Salyers urges all Knox County residents to visit the county recorder’s website and sign up for PropertyCheck alerts.
“Leveraging modern technology to keep our residents’ property information safe and secure is a priority of mine,” he said. “I am excited to offer Knox County residents a tool that allows them to monitor the safety of their property records as it relates to potential fraud.”
