AGENCY TESTIMONY
Proactive measures to prevent deed fraud
0:14:56
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95 sec
The City Register outlines several proactive steps taken by the Department of Finance to help prevent deed fraud, including staff training and involvement of the Sheriff's Office in the review process.
- Staff are trained to detect potentially forged or fraudulent documents
- Quitclaim deeds receive particular scrutiny as they are commonly used in deed fraud
- Suspicious submissions are referred to the Sheriff's Office for review
- Other red flags include below-market sale prices and multiple transfers between LLCs in short periods
Colette McCain-Jacques
0:14:56
Although the office of the city register is limited by state law, there are still proactive steps the Department of Finance has taken to help prevent deed fraud.
0:15:09
We have trained city register staff to better detect documents that may be forged or fraudulent and put in place several safeguards, including involvement of the sheriff's office in the review process.
0:15:24
After an internal review of our recording process, we discovered that quitclaim deeds are the most common type of deeds used by perpetrators of deed fraud.
0:15:35
The staff now pays particular attention to these situations submissions.
0:15:41
And when the staff identifies a discrepancy that appears to indicate possible fraud, they refer it to the Sheriff's Office for review.
0:15:51
Examples of other types of recording that would trigger an additional review are those with a sale price far below the market value, and trans multiple transfers between LLCs within a short period of time, and transfers by people or entities suspected of committing or known to have committed defraud in the past.
0:16:19
These safeguards have been in effect since July 2014, when we increased our focus on defraud and we continue to make improvements as we see patterns that need to be addressed.
