Property Fraud Meeting Held in Chatham
Area residents packed the Crerar Memorial Presbyterian Church (8100 S. Calumet Ave.) on Chicago’s South Side on Saturday to hear what Cook County Recorder of Deeds (CCRD) Karen Yarbrough had to say about the often occurring practice of property and deed fraud, something even City of Chicago Treasurer, Stephanie Neely has been a victim.
“I am the city advocate for homeowners in Chicago,” Yarbrough told the audience of mostly senior citizens who gathered in the church for the event. “We have to protect ourselves and our community. We don’t want to talk about family members who are doing these things but it happens. You will get speedy turnaround from our office. We have an investigator who will look into it.”
Public elected officials are targeted by scammers who feel they have been wronged by them. For example, City Treasurer Neely was a victim of property fraud in 2011.
A New York Times story, passed out during the meeting tells how City Treasurer Neely became a victim, after a deed filed with the CCRD office listed the Moorish Science Temple of America as the owner of the home she owns in the 1100 block of East 44th Street, one of more than 30 Chicago-area properties so listed.
Neely, the story states, was shocked to learn about the deed and hired a lawyer to straighten out the matter.
The story goes on to state that R. Jones-Bey, a grand sheik and moderator of the Moorish Science Temple of America, said the church had no knowledge of it and that there have been other organizations calling themselves the Moorish Science Temple of America.
During the event residents were told about how savvy “fraudsters” are abusing Illinois’ open land records system to steal properties and what do if someone files a quitclaim deed against your property.
This crime is easily committed by filing a deed on a property. Once the document is notarized and a fee is paid to the recorder of deeds, the document is part of the official record of ownership.
Because few homeowners check their property records after purchasing a home, the deed can go unnoticed until someone shows up to your home claiming ownership.
Yarbrough shared the story of how a senior citizen who was home when a man showed up to her South Side property and changed the lock on her home’s front gate and proceeded to change the locks on her home’s doors. When the woman asked what he was doing, the man reportedly showed the homeowner paperwork stating that he was the new owner of the property. That man was later arrested.
Sometimes erroneously referred to as a ("quick-claim" deed), a quitclaim deed is a legal instrument by which the owner of a piece of real property, called the grantor, transfers his or her interest to a recipient, called the grantee. The owner/grantor terminates (“quits”) his or her right and claim to the property, thereby allowing claim to transfer to the recipient/grantee.
John Mirkovic, CCRD’s communications director provided residents with information.
“Even if you’ve paid off your home, if someone files a (quitclaim) deed on top of that, you can lose your home. These people are master forgers,” Mirkovic said.
Mirkovic went on to say that there is a group called the Sovereign Citizens, an anti-government extremist group, which is actively engaging in the quitclaim scam on Chicago’s South Side.
Others to look out for are foreclosure rescue scammers and predators who sometimes are family members.
Mirkovic said seniors are an attractive target because they generally own their homes and the properties often are not well cared for. Predators also generally victimize areas hardest hit by foreclosures.
Three state legislative bills were passed this year to address property and deed fraud: HB 2832 HB2905 and HB2905.
Home owners’ first line of protection is to register for CCRD’s free Property Fraud Alert system which will send registrants an email or give them a phone call anytime a document is recorded against their property.
Additionally, Yarbrough told the audience to check their deeds once a year, stay away from what sounds, too good to be true and to share what they learned at the event with friends and neighbors.
Getting a notification as soon as a document is recorded means that a homeowner can take legal action before the fraudster can cause further damage, like taking out a mortgage against the property.
Homeowners are encouraged to visit CCRD’s website at cookrecorder.com for information about a new law that allows the Cook County Recorder’s Office to help victims of deed fraud to quickly invalidate fraudulent recordings at no cost to them and other pertinent, helpful information.
By using Cook County’s Administrative Law Division to review cases of clear fraud, victims will no longer need to hire an attorney or wait in long lines in chancery court.
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