(RILEY COUNTY, KS – August 22, 2022) The Riley County Register of Deeds Office recently subscribed to a notification service called Property Fraud Alert as a proactive step to protect people from mortgage and property fraud. People and businesses can now sign up to receive notification by phone or email anytime their name is filed in association with a land record in Riley County.
“Property Fraud Alert is similar to a credit alert system,” said Riley County Register of Deeds Amy Manges. “While PFA will not prevent fraud from happening, it provides an early warning system that will allow people to take appropriate action if fraud occurs. When we tested the system, we received a notice within seven minutes of uploading the daily data report.”
People can now sign up for free and receive notification by phone or email anytime their name is listed as a Grantor or Grantee on property-related documents filed with the Riley County Register of Deeds Office, such as mortgages or deeds. Notifications may happen quickly but can take 24 – 48 hours to process. Since the Property Fraud Alert system relies on the exact name of a business or person, Riley County recommends people sign up all of the common variations of their name. Examples would include signing up as both William Doe and Bill Doe.
In her more than 20 years working with the department, Register of Deeds Amy Manges says no instances of property fraud have been identified in Riley County, and only one questionable mortgage crossed her desk. However, in 2005, the FBI identified mortgage fraud as one of the fastest growing white collar crimes in the United States. Since that time, new methods for identifying and reporting fraud, like Property Fraud Alert, have been developed to help empower fraud victims.
“Our office started getting an increase in questions about fraud alerts in 2020,” said Manges. “Thankfully, we haven’t had any issues with property fraud in Riley County, so we contacted other counties to find out what they were doing. Some services were prohibitively expensive, but we found an affordable vendor that would serve our county’s needs.”
Riley County paid an initial cost of $8,000 to provide the Property Fraud Alert service to the public. The yearly fee to continue the service will be $1,750. Subscribers will not be charged any fees to join. People can learn more about PFA and sign up by visiting https://www.propertyfraudalert.com/KSRiley or calling 1-800-728-3858.