Kent County launches program to alert you to property theft
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A new program will alert property owners when someone files a document with the Kent County Register of Deeds under their name.
The free program, called Fraud Notify, is meant to help catch mortgage fraud and property and identity theft early, the county clerk’s office said.
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It works like this: Property owners register their name or other names — like those of a business or trust — so they get an email every time that name comes up on a new document with the Register of Deeds. That way, they can check to make sure it’s legitimate and, if it’s not, call the authorities. The idea is to keep someone from either mortgaging or selling property they have no right to.
The clerk’s office said it’s trying to crack down on property theft and fraud, which it said is a growing problem nationally.
“Over the time that we’ve spent kind of getting this off the ground and unrolling it, we have found that property theft is much more common than people realize,” Kent County Clerk/Register of Deeds Lisa Posthumus Lyons told News 8 Thursday.
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She said the perpetrator might be an individual, including someone the property owner knows, but that there are “organized criminal enterprises” that “prey” on property owners. And it can take years for the fraud to be revealed, she said, because the rightful owner might not realize someone has filed documents for the property until they decide to sell or make another transaction on it. The clerk’s office said the rightful owner could wind up on the hook for a phony mortgage, a problem that can take a lot of time and money to resolve.
“I want to be very clear: Fraud Notify will not prevent property theft — but it will be able to notify a property owner if something happened,” Lyons said. “And it’s so important: the sooner, the better.”
You can register for Fraud Notify on the county’s website.
“It’s really just five minutes, tops, to do it. I think that’s a really good investment of your time to protect such an asset as your property,” Lyons said.
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