Posted on 03/24/2024 6:07:34 AM PDT by dennisw
“It’s too easy to forge a deed and record it,” Real estate attorney Richard Alembik told WSB-TV. “It’s a big problem nowadays, because of the fact that e-filing, the e-recording of deeds is so easy. It’s very easy to record forged deeds.”
Alembik said notaries don’t check the identification of the people who submit the documents to verify if they are the rightful homeowners.
Victims of fraud who have proof to be the rightful homeowners can still be ordered by a judge to move out and pay fines, according to the outlet.
An elderly Georgia homeowner was forced out of his house and arrested when an alleged swindler used fraudulent documents to claim ownership of the property.
Charles and Charmaine Allman lived in the same Stone Mountain, Ga. home — located 16 miles east of Atlanta — for the last two decades before officials told the couple Tuesday that they no longer owned the house and had to vacate.
“They made us feel like we were squatters,” Charmaine Allman told WSB-TV. “Just tossed my stuff out like it was trash.”
Most of the couple’s belongings were scattered all over the yard.
The outlet reported that an anonymous man allegedly falsified a deed and submitted the documents online with Dekalb County to claim ownership of the Allman’s home.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Here is my link that opens up the list of counties in TN that partner with them. You might be able to find out if your county wherever you are partners with them from here. My County official pointed me toward them.
Is this only for Tennessee? Doesn’t have a search function.
I don’t know but surely not. I’ll see if I can find more info or do like I did and call your County Clerk of deeds. I called to ask about title protection and she sent me this URL. If it’s available for your county, your Clerk will know.
VACATION???
HOW about visiting someone on thanksgiving or Christmas??
It apparently can take just a few hours for troublemakers to move in.
Well there is a solution to this.. that person will not do it again.
Thanks MelindainTn. It is only for Tennessee.
Maybe the current owners should be provided the opportunity to sign off on the transfer...we do it with cars. That the title company doesn’t check is the problem. This is committing a crime in the open - how is this prosecuted? It shouldn’t be this easy. The other question I have is, if the fraud was allowed by a company - why aren’t they held liable?
This is wrong on many levels - including the way law enforcement handles it.
It doesn’t cover the fraudulently filed new title. It only covers your title from when you purchased it as the buyer. But it this fraud you are the alleged seller, so not covered.
The original covered title is still clean, but moot because it was replaced with a fake transfer and new title at the recording office.
Then the new seller takes out a 2nd mortage and disapears with the money.
Bank forcloses and evicts. It takes a while to unwind.
Welcome to the new Soth African stile of governance in Atlanta, turning it into a third would cleptocey.
This fraud almost always involves forged signatures of the homeowners and fake ID used to make a real notarized quitclaim transferring title to a purported younger relative who then uses the equity value of the paid off home to get a 2nd mortgage and then skips town on it.
And it’s not just one person. It’s a ring or group that engages in all kinds of ID fraud.
Well, Biden did promise “free housing” to invaders and fix the homeless crisis for pooping on the streets drug addicts. White privileged American investors, builders and homeowners have to make some sacrifices.
Not that it changes the facts here, but did anyone go to the article and look at the pictures of the rightful owners? What the...??
Is this the same Charles and Charmaine Allman or is there another couple with the same names in Northern Georgia? If this is the same couple, was their house posted for foreclosure prior to the bankruptcy? Are they still making payments under their Chapter 13 plan or have they defaulted? Did a lender actually foreclose, either before or after they filed? Did a scammer pick them as victims because they had their house posted for foreclosure or because they were bankrupt? What happened to the guy who claims to have purchased the house in foreclosure? Has he been charged with a crime? Why are the criminal charges against Charles Allman still pending? Were Charles and Charmain Allman evicted in court?
There are lots of unanswered questions, most of which could be answered by a competent reporter checking public records. Instead, they all keep copying and reporting the same story, which was apparently first published by WSBTV in Atlanta, and which reads like it was based entirely from talking with Charmaine Allman. The report says that a TV crew showed up at the house of the purported buyer and he told them to leave. If a TV showed up unannounced at my house I would tell them to leave too. Never trust the media to tell the real story.
There has never been any movement on mine. I get alerts when the County Mayor does anything with his since the name is the same except for the middle initial. I think a lot of Counties have this feature but you have to email or call them to see if they do. The feature might not all be named the same.
I don’t even trust the LifeLock program that you have to pay for. How can you trust them with your personal information? The County already has our information.
Other states and Counties have a similar program. Call or email your local County official that is in charge deeds and titles and ask. That’s what I did. It might not be called the same thing everywhere.
It was funny how I found out about it. I emailed the County official and asked about the LifeLock and other businesses that do this. She said, “why waste money on that when our County has something similar for free”? She emailed me the URL and coached me on signing up.
If your County offers it, they will tell you.
Why isn’t 2nd authentication used? ....like contacting the existing owners.
Thanks Melinda, I appreciate your info. I’m going to call my county tomorrow.
Probably because it hasn’t become a big enough problem yet for the banks to institute this reqirement.
Just remember the first step in the fraud is identity theft and forging of documents to transfer the deed at the records office, creating the appearance of a clean deed for the bank to rely on when they checked for encumbrances before they made the loan.
It’s not where you expect to find fraud.
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