Audrain County residents should be aware of property fraud, and Teresa Allen, recorder of deeds for the county, said people may now sign up for property fraud alerts.

Allen said her office received a call from a property owner in Vandalia who said she had been contacted by Audrain County Title in Mexico. Her home and property are for sale, Allen said.

“She called and spoke to my chief deputy and said the title company had advised her to call us and sign up for property fraud alert because she felt like a deed tried to come through fraudulently saying that they had purchased her property,” Allen said, referring to the property owner. “So she called here to sign up for property fraud alert.”  

Allen said her office offers fraud information flyers for businesses to sign up for property fraud. She said the title company had an email from an individual from Canada who had put up $95,000 in earnest money. She said the country of origin and the earnest amount were red flags, as $95,000 would be considered excessive.

“That’s unusual sight unseen to put up that money earnest,” Allen said. That upfront money holds the property so that someone can’t buy it underneath someone else, she said, and she showed a notarized document that appeared to show forged signatures. 

Someone from the title company called the realtor who had this property listed, and she alerted the realtor to get contact information to the homeowner, who called the deed recorder’s office.

“As far as I know the transaction was never made - there was just an attempt,” Allen said.

Allen said people may sign up for property fraud through her office, including dropping by the office or by phone. People may also go online by accessing this link at the recorder of deeds:  www.propertyfraudalert.
com/MOAudrain.

“Property fraud alert is offered free to all of our customers through our software company, which is Fidlar Technologies out of Davenport, Iowa,” Allen said, adding that company offers the service for free and no information about people is sold.

Allen’s office will record a deed if it meets all the requirements by the statutes. 

“So, then, when I put it on record, that property owner would get notification,” she said. 

She said people can get notification in three ways: email, text or phone call. 

“You can do all three or you can do one or two,” she said.

She said once the property owner receives an alert, they can either call the 1-800 number given in the alert or they can contact Allen’s office to see exactly what has been recorded. And if someone doesn’t have knowledge of recording a deed, then he or she will need to contact police and then get an attorney.

“The sooner law enforcement can get after it, the better off everybody’s going to be,” Allen said.