Realtor stops thief trying to steal and sell land

Imagine someone pretending to be you and selling your home or land right from underneath you. Deed or property fraud happens more often than you think.

Sharon Neuhofer is used to helping people buy and sell their property. She’s a realtor at Coldwell Banker Sunstar Realty. A recent call from someone wanting to sell their empty lot in Punta Gorda Isles raised a red flag.

“I started digging a little further and asked him for some driver’s licenses and email addresses to verify that he’s actually the owner because I don’t know this gentleman,” Neuhofer remembered.

Normally when Neuhofer asks for driver’s licenses, the fraudsters disappear. But she said this one sent her copies within hours. Still, those alarm bells kept ringing in her head.

“When I researched it a little further, I found out he’s not actually the owner,” she said. “I tracked down the real owner and I called him and I asked him ‘Do you want me to sell your lot in Punta Gorda Isles?’ And he said, ‘No.’ He had no idea what I was talking about. I ruined his day.”

Neuhofer filed a police report. She learned the license the person provided was real, but the picture on it was not.

This is the first time it’s ever come so close, especially with a driver’s license. Sharon Neuhofer

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Charlotte County Property Appraiser Paul Polk isn’t surprised by this con game.

“They live in one country, the deed is notarized in another country, then it’s processed to a title company in Florida or another state,” Polk said.

Adding to the problem, many of the property owners live in a different state or country. Once a deed is recorded over at the Clerk’s office, it goes to Polk’s office for tax purposes.

“We’re just looking to verify that you have the right, based on the names and ownership that we have on record, that that’s who’s transferring the property and the legal description describing the property that’s being transferred,” clarified Polk.

He said they processed about 60,000 deeds over the last two years. A small percentage were fraudulent…that they know of.

“We’re made aware of that by the property owners a lot of times themselves, contacting us saying, ‘Hey, why didn’t I get my credit tax bill or my Truth in Millage notice in August?'” Polk mentioned.

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Karen Murillo is the Associate State Director of Advocacy for AARP Florida.

We’re definitely seeing a lot of real estate-related fraud and deed fraud Karen Murillo

Murillo said a number of laws were recently passed to help protect property and landowners from deed fraud.

“The legislature has been looking at stricter notary law and tightening the requirements for the documentation in order to transfer property.”

Every county’s Clerk of Courts office offers a property alert service. You’ll be notified when a deed, mortgage, or other official instrument is recorded in your name at their office.

“This helps people detect a lot faster when this is happening,” Murillo added. “When somebody is fraudulently transferring, which hopefully prevents the deed from being processed or, at the very least, provides a quick expedited solution for these homeowners.”

And if your property is deeded fraudulently, there’s a new, quicker process to get rid of the phony one.

“It’s supposed to be a self-help tool so people can file it on their own without the help of an attorney,” explained Murillo. “As long as they can show that it was fraudulently done, this happens at an expedited process and a much cheaper process than it would ordinarily.”

Neuhofer turned over every email conversation she had with the fake owner to the police. Even though she was done with the fraudsters, they weren’t done with her.

“He actually emailed me to ask what the status of the listing is,” Neuhofer said on the day of the interview. “He emailed me twice today, and I just didn’t know what to say.”

There are a few other ways to be more proactive to deed or property fraud. Neuhofer recommends setting up a Google Alert for your address. You’ll be notified anytime your address pops up on the internet. Murillo advices that you keep an eye out for any mail sent to your home with someone else’s name on the envelope. That could be red flag.

You can sign up to receive property fraud alerts at the Clerk of Courts link where your property is located below:

Lee County Clerk of Court Property Fraud Alert Services

Charlotte County Clerk of Court Fraud Alert

Collier County Clerk of Court Official Land Records Risk Alert 

Hendry County Clerk of Court Property Fraud Alert

DeSoto County Clerk of Court Property Fraud Alert

Glades County Clerk of Court Property Fraud Alert