Talk of identity theft has become an almost daily occurrence in the news as more and more information that used to be stored in safes and lock boxes becomes accessible via the Internet.
A new wrinkle involves deed and mortgage fraud. Unscrupulous individuals are accessing property ownership information, filing false deeds and mortgage applications in their names and sticking the unsuspecting property owner with the bill.
But a new program in Crawford County is designed to let property owners know if there's any funny business going on with their official documents.
“At the Register's office, we're responsible for everything that happens to every piece of land in Crawford County from day one to forever,” said Jeanette Nepote, county Register of Deeds. “Absolutely everything that can happen to a piece of property is recorded here.”
Just a few years ago, everything was done by hand, with deeds and mortgages documents saved and recorded in any one of hundreds of massive record books in the Recorder's office. While the books and documents are still around, in recent years, every piece of paper that comes in to the office is scanned and stored on computers at a remote site run by a Fidlar Technologies of Rock Island, Ill.
Part of the service the company provides is notification for land owners any time a change is made to any property document in their name.
“It's to let you know, if you sign up for it, any time your name comes up at all, they'll notify you,” she said.
Nepote recalled the tale of one Missouri man who was making up his own deeds to other people's rental properties. He'd even gone so far as to purchasing a Notary seal at an office supply store, so the documents he was creating looked real, she said. He'd then go to the local courthouse and register the faked deeds in his name.
“A little while later, he'd go to these construction companies that remodel things, and he'd tell them, 'I have all this property and I won't be able to do anything with it,'” Nepote said. “They'd buy it and he'd be gone.”
The service won't stop fraud. But it would let people know if something is happening with their property records they didn't initiate.
But, if the property owners in Missouri had been subscribed to this system, they would have been notified of the changes made to the ownership records. They would then have been able to start legal proceedings to stop the process and recoup their property.
Nepote cautioned that , while she's never heard of a case of deed fraud of this type in Kansas, that doesn't mean it can't happen here.
And the system doesn't just provide fraud protection. It will also notify people when legitimate transactions occur, providing another confirmation that documents have been filed correctly..
“It might not be fraud,” Nepote said. “You might know you just bought a house., for example.
“A lot of our mortgages have been assigned to companies far away. When somebody pays it off, sometimes (the companies) are a little slow to send us the mortgage release.”
The new system would immediately notify subscribers when the release arrives in the Recorder's office, she said.
“For Crawford County, I'm sure it's not a big concern at this point in time,” Nepote said. “If the future gets worse and somebody does try to do something, they'll see if anybody has done anything with their property.”

BREAKOUT BOX
To register for the notification service, go online to www.propertyfraudalert.com
Nepote said registration will be free and the system should be up and running for Crawford County early in May. The website currently lists a $12.95 subscription fee, which the county has decided to waive for local landowners. If the fee is still listed on the website when you attempt to subscribe, she asks residents to try back later, once the subscription check-box has been deleted from the site.