"You're honour, this was clear fraud. I've just done fraud on your home" Like that would go anywhere else but straight to jail 😂 I appreciate the sentiment though hahahaha
No one should be able to file a deed like with out either a documented purchase or a lengthy, expensive legal process for them. The woman that did this makes her living by filing deeds on what she hopes are abandoned properties. In other words she is squatting on a whole other level.
What there needs to be is a system to simplify and cheapen the process for dealing with false filings once they're identified. Its understandable why there's no system for verifying the documents at time of filing, but its inexcusable there's no system for EFFICIENTLY addressing the matter once an issue is found.
@@FormulaFox if systems were digitized and properly interconnected then it would be possible, but as of now a lot of government systems are still relying on ancient systems
@@eddythefool That would help once fraud was identified, for sure. But it'd still be a lot of legwork to verify if there was no obvious up-front detail to flag a filing as fraudulent.
@@jeffc5474 is it fraud if you transfer your own property to yourself? yeah, its unnecesary filing fees, and may look suspicious, but i think anyone can enter a contract with themselves to sell them their property.. i mean both parties agree..
@@unitrader403 It isn't fraud if no one is defrauded, so if he deeds the property to himself, or to his wife as the last person filing he'll be the owner of record.
If you are ever going to vacate a house before sale, place an alarm system in the house. Catch them breaking and entering, which is a criminal offense. That will get them free room and board, which is what they wanted.
The key is catching them early and even having photo or video evidence of their breaking and entering. If they somehow didn't damage a door or window photo, video or a witness would be really helpful. I would prefer photo or video since it may be possible to get a witnesses testimony dismissed.
Right? Our house, in a different state, sat empty for nine months while we tried to sell it. After living in near constant panic that something like this would happen we just turned it into a rental. Whew!
I once bought a piece of property that was adjacent to some commerical property I owned. The guy who owned it, not the brightest bulb in any room (although nice), had been afraid he was going to lose his home in a bankruptcy so he and a friend drafted up an attachment to his deed and took it down to be recorded. As Steve mentioned, no one actually read the document, they simply recorded. When we closed on the property, he ended up with less than half the selling price because it cost so much to clean up the deed so the property could be sold. I would point up that more and more county registrars are setting up programs for people to be notified if/when there is any activity related to your deed(s). I am set up so that my wife and myself get an email on any activity AND they have both our cell numbers in the event of anything major. If your country registrar doesn't offer the service - push them to set up something!
This is funny. I'm dealing with a similar issue. They do this at the courthouse every day. I own my house outright and I get a bill for my property taxes bill every year. And they send me a letter saying they'll for close if I don't pay. Aren't taxes due only at the sale? So what they do is take your legitimate deed from you when they "record it" they give you a deed of trust. Why do you think the bank rolls the tax payment into into the mortgage. So you don't look into it any farther ...think of all the extra rime and effort spent that the bank does free of charge to calculate each morgatges tax fees and mail them In separately for each mortgage. Wonder why they would go out of their way to do that at their expense
@@jordykellogg5568I don't know where you live but I'm pretty sure property taxes are normally due every year. Whether or not you (outright) own or Finance your home.
@@karezaalonso7110 and to hit on the being due every half year. Why is a car different? Do you pay tax on anything else twice a year as well as when you first purchase it? Do you have to pay the Kelley Blue book price tax amount twice a year to the BMV...(registration isn't that) ..And if ur curious any one get on the revised code( Ohio) at least and see where the property tax money goes...as it reads no more than 5% can go towards schools..also after they pass a levy that raises the property tax why doesnt it fall back off after the bill has been taken care of for improvements or something of that nature as it often is. Oh and before I forget as it used to be schools and church's were exempt from taxes. Because you can't question children or the church..( yet theres been a running joke since the crusades about the church raping children) because your likely to be tried of treason. Hell with em. This country is supposed to be founded on protesting bullshit taxes...and before your instinctual dismissal of myself as a tax evader scumbag as were taught to do...ask yourself a question, "do I like paying taxes?" Then ask your neighbors see what they say. I'm not against all taxes just the bullshit ones
I got on a rant and missed the last point maybe it'll be more visible this way anyhow..CHUCHES , SCHOOLS, ANNNND OIL AND GAS COMPANYS....are not required to pay a real property tax. At leaston the things in the company's name. Or involved in the production of the oil and gas...I guess they paid enough up front to the governer🫳🎤
There needs to be a statute placed for FULL recovery of all costs related to correcting fraud. It should include all costs, fees, and time involved in the cleanup.
IMO the state itself should also be held liable for having such a horrendously insecure system. Private parties can be held liable for their incompetence allowing other people to commit crimes, so why shouldn't the state?
If it was effective, it could really cool down the current fraud wave. But the source of the compensation would have to include money from the crimes - kind of like the RICO act.
As good as that sounds... think about it. These POS are scamming tyhe the system. You would never collect, only get more frustrated. I plan on applying the Castle Doctrine, no mercy.
The fastest way to fix that problem is to file deed transfer for the house of every member of state congress and send them an eviction notice. That would get the legislature move fast to fix it.
@@jamie81972 I would go for Bartholomew Simpson, Marty McFly, John Rambo, Anthony Stark, Jessica Jones, Kara Danvers, Jean Grey. Different names for all of them, but all of them from fictional characters that can sound like a real person name. Something that a simple google search would point to a fake name.
State Legislatures need to put regulations in place to reduce and / or eliminate this type of fraud.. It would also be nice to see some laws to protect the property owner as well.
Sadly, the people who want state and federal legislation to protect the interests of the masses can't afford to buy enough politicians to get anything out of committee.
Easy way would be to spend the money to register deeds for all of legislature's homes. Don't say anything or make any claim beyond that for a few years and see how long it takes them to find a solution.
Perhaps the fraudsters would be kind enough to try this BS with a few legislators in each state, from both major parties. Watch how fast they come up with solutions.
My Wife is the Register of Deeds of our county. Her vendor who supplies her software system came up with a free service where if your name shows up on ANY document upon filing it triggers an alert email to let you know someone filed something on your property. Speed is the best defense to prevent Deed/mortgage fraud. As soon as you see it you ask for the nature of the document - it typically takes weeks for a fraudster to complete a deed fraud. You have to be proactive as soon as you hear to shut it down quick.🤠😎
The charges for filing a false Deed need to be more severe. To the point that someone convicted of such a crime gets repeat offense charges just by looking through a window.
She should have slave rights after this. All identification documents gone. Birth certificate all deeds titles and certificates gone. No SSN. No owned property. No right to vote, nothing.
Keep a lien for $1 on the property with a bank or credit union (with their permission). Then the filing of a fraudulent lien becomes a FELONY! Same with automobile titles! 😁
Plus you now have very easy access to loans at a low interest rate, as there already is a loan registered on the property, and amending it is a lot easier than registering a new one.
@@odkdsjf Your bank or credit union will be happy (tickled pink) to have such a low risk, high collateral loan parked for you, especially if you are a good customer with good credit. Forging title and deed signatures is usually a civil misdemeanor, whereas forging a signature on a loan document is a CRIMINAL FELONY! 😁
@@jsivco3sivco785 My credit score went down 40 points just after I paid off my home loan, and had no home loan. So having a current mortgage helped me keep a higher score.
Blows my mind that this isn't just solved by computers. Yeah, the clerks don't have the time or patience to double check these things, but that's the type of thing computers excel at. The real trouble is bureaucracy makes syncing up all those databases impossible, nothing else. The technology is there, cooperation between those databases is possible. Banks have constantly done exactly the same thing for decades now.
government can't do much right at all. individuals are protecting themselves and their own interests. thats why governments should be small and almost powerless.
@@Look_What_You_Did The problem is that no one is double checking information against the information that the different parts of the government already have, right? So computers do the checking and things that don't match up don't get filed and someone is flagged to let the relevant parties know that there's a problem. This is very similar to what banks do to prevent kiting, which isn't really a thing anymore because computers are great at it.
Until they digitize everything AND MAKE SURE that the databse isn't avalable to be hacked by bad actors, then they can put a system in place that the clerk has to look over the documents and if it is a deed to something, they have to notify the seller and buyer who have to sit down in front of an official, perhaps a notary where they both agree to the transfer. To prevent ID theft where the bac actor might be tempted to impersonate the actual owner, they can record the affair on video, fingerprint both parties, and required sufficient ID to prove they are the original owner. Then file the deed.
As soon as I heard "Attorney of Fact", I knew this was some Sovereign Citizen nonsense. Anytime they get busted for something, they always whip out that, "What was the law I broke?" despite being told multiple times. If they don't like it, it's not a law. "That's not a law, it's a statute." They don't understand those are the same thing.
"The law" is whatever the person with the biggest stick says it is. The designation given to the entity with the biggest stick in a given geographical area is "The Government".
Thank you for this story Steve, I went online and registered for such an alert before I even finished watching this video. It was easy and is something I never would have thought about and hopefully will help should something like this occur to me.
The fraudsters probably thought if it was listed as a foreclosure it was abandoned by the prior owner and they could then extort the foreclosing entity for a big cash buyout to move out.
OK, this phrase also seemed a little, well, SovCit (Sovereign Citizen, depends on willful misunderstanding and cherry picking of laws to claim some sort of immunity to laws or ability to transfer property to themselves through fraudulent documents) to me. So I did a little research into it. It refers to a person who is authorized to act on someone's behalf that is not a lawyer. Now, I am familiar with power of attorney. So it does make quite a bit of sense now. I suppose if I ever had to exercise the power of attorney that I hold for say the care of my mother, that would make me an attorney in fact for her despite my not having studied law nor having a degree in any ancillary legal course of study.
@@josephvarno5623 Huh? You can have power of attorney and not be a lawyer. Are you saying that if someone asks, you are not supposed to say that you are their attorney, but rather that you are their attorney in fact?
Most likely because it wouldn't clear it up. It's cloudy because there's contradicting recorded documents. Adding another contradicting record on top would still leave it cloudy.
I live here locally where this happened. I tried explaining this to my coworkers and they think stuff like this is a joke and the story because it doesn't make sense ... until they read the story ... basically people are oblivious how the law works when it comes to squatters. I registered today with Wake County Register of Deeds to alert me if anything is filed with my name on it. This scares me and I wasn't even involved.
Notarizing a document does not make it a legal document. The notary seal only signifies that the person who signed it was verified. The notary has no liability unless they were involved in the fraud.
@@willer3399 Which they were if they didn't verify the identity of the person conveying the property. This assumes that a notarized deed conveyance document is required. If it's not, it certainly should be.
@@RealMesaMike A notary has no responsibility to verify the legitimacy of the document(s) they are applying their seal to. They are only responsible for verifying that the person who signs the document is the person indicated.
That's really interesting to me because so much of Chicago title was in the Torrens system. Title was in Torrens, and the landowner got a Torrens Certificate of Title, quite different. Anything filed had to go through Torrens and that could be how it was caught. I heard or read that Chicago did away with Torrens. To me it was a good system. Massachusetts offers something very close by filing deeds with a Court of Law that administers just like Torrens.
@@HighHolyOne System was alright. It's just Sydney Olsen, a fossilized party loyalist used the office for the most incompetent patronage workers available. really messed it up for people as I recall.
This problem could be eliminated so easily and yet lawmakers refuse to do so. It feels as if they want these problems to persist to feed the court industrial complex, or perhaps they even love criminals.
If all it takes to file something like that it should a: not require a civil suit to fix and b: whatever filing happens should not hold so much power while being so painfully easy to abuse.
There needs to be a FEDERAL LAW that compels a HUMAN with a verified address file deeds, change mortgages, buy or sell any property at all. Its unbelievable any of the identity theft crap is happening. If legislators think they need to legislate then they should do something positive for a change instead of just making things worse with their retrograde progress.
It's 2024. Maybe it would be time to computerize these things so it would give an alert about fraudulent filing attempt. As somebody who works in IT, I am 100% confident it could be done with modern technology.
After a criminal conviction, the statute should mandate immediate correction to the records at the County Recorder's office within 60 days. The victim should not be forced to engage in the civil process to restore their own records. The criminal judge should sign a court order and the clerk should certify it. Then the victim walks it over over the Recorder's Office and the 60 days starts. In addition, a person who is filing a new deed should be required to get a separate one page document notarized with the signature of the current recorded owner that they are aware and have knowledge of the new deed. Too simple?? At the very least require the person who has their name on the new deed actually be the person who is filing it and have the clerk make a copy of their valid photo ID when filing it with a statement that they know it is a felony to file a fraudulent document. No valid ID... the clerk cannot not accept the filing. That may discourage a lot of fraud.
Whoever filed the documents for "filing" should be required to prove/provide legal authority to file( linked to existing attorneys), and prove their ID, by signing an anti-fraud document?
I work at a Register of Deeds office in the star of Michigan. We are required by state law to record any document that meets state requirements. Requirements are, drafted by name/address, return to name/address, grantor name/address, grantee name/address, legal description of the property, consideration amount, mcl exemption(s) or Treasury stamp & /or sticker, grantor signature w/ printed name, notary acknowledgement with name of person signing (this must match the printed name under the signature), notary signature, notary printed name & expiration date. In some cases additional information is necessary to be on the document. Part of the burden is on the notary to be sure the person matches the ID. There are many types of fraud, people claiming to have power of attorney signing for the person and fraudulent signing just to name a few.
Raise the filing fees to cover the costs of vetting filed documents (plus a margin). This would provide security for the legitimate owners and massively reduce the incentive for nefarious filings.
They claim there is no way for them to prevent this? I have a feeling if this happens to enough important people (mayors, congressmen, etc) they'll suddenly figure out a way to keep this from happening.
Anything the government allows you to change in minutes they should allow to be undone in the same time. It’s crazy that anyone can just walk in and file this that and the other, but the one suffering from that has to spend months fixing it.
A friend was helping another friend buy an estate property and did most of the legwork himself. What happened during one visit to the Orange County CA recorder to file some documents he asked about the format. the lady's comment was hilarious and was "if you bring in your underpants, and pay the $35, we'll record them".
If the county can’t be bothered to verify the legitimacy of the documents they accept, they should be liable for all the costs associated with correcting issues related to illegitimate documents.
A friend of mine has a last name so unique that a Google search (in quotes) has only EVER brought up her, her brother, & their uncle in this country. With both men having passed away, she's the only living person in the US with that last name. I found a lawsuit filed in her name (exact match of first & last name) across the country that she knows nothing about. Would there be a reason for an attorney to sue without the named plaintiff being aware?
I mean, the lawyer has a point, the police always shrug when some nobody loses everything to fraud. Defraud a billionaire out of rounded pennies, though, and your door is going to get hit so hard it lands in the next county.
Make anyone submitting any kind of paperwork to any government office put their thumbprint on it in front of the employee accepting the document(s), as well as making it a policy that the notary and the person accepting it must also record their thumbprint? In some instances you can't even cash a check at a bank without submitting a thumbprint. But you can attempt to fraudulently take ownership of capital? The bureaucracy is not without fault here just because they process a high volume of documents. And there are basic precautions that could easily be written into the process to make it less difficult for scammers when allegations of fraud are made. You can't even mail a bulky parcel without the oversight of a USPS clerk. Why would there be a self-service option for something with the potential to produce similarly explosive results in the metaphorical sense?
First off, woman in jail & her attorney in jail! Then require both of them to pay the fees to straighten everything out plus a charge for the time it takes per hour, not per day. Make them both pay for this the REST of their lives!
Increase the filing fee to cover the vetting process. If it takes a clerk a few days to vet a document, that's only a few hundred dollars. If it's fraudulent, it costs the victim thousands of dollars and months to fix. Seems like simple math to me.
Quick way to get rid of squatters, go visit the local Hells Angels or other 1% MC and "rent" them your house for a week for a dollar. Make sure to have a rental contract signed, dated, and notarized.
It should not cost the victim money. The DA should ask the court to remove the piece of paper from the records upon conviction of the culprits. Or if the culprits don't want to be charged, they should go down and request their fraudulent paper back with a 'sorry we didn't mean it' line. Or is this now a 'civil' matter?
Our County is letting property owners sign up for property fraud alert monitoring that informs us if anything gets filed with our name on it. It might be time to do that, but I can't imagine a criminal bothering with our place when there's a castle across the water.
This was something that worried me when we moved out of our old home, fixing it up to sell. Well at least the risk of squatters. Kept our cameras up and internet going.
She wasted her money and time with attorney in fact and filing. She could have got it for free by squatting and get it in adverse possession without color of title eventually if left unnoticed for 7 years. Adverse possession law needs to be changed. Home owners with more than one real property need to be aware.
@@The_Ascension adverse possession means nothing if the paperwork was filed incorrectly in the first place. I lived at a property for 22 years and found out I owned the garage but not the lot it sat on. Meanwhile someone was paying the taxes on the adjacent lot for years, I knew nothing about and getting incentives to buy other properties and businesses. When I did find out/question I was told to pay $8k, then $10k to obtain both lots, which I didn’t want. The people who filed/sold the property were dead and gone. So many mistakes were made that I was unaware of as it was an inherited property eventually. Over the years I received random peoples mail that never resided there, constantly returning it. Meanwhile a random person showed up with court house paperwork showing me the adjacent lot was sectioned off and sold at auction and his wife showed up screaming at me that they now owned my garage. Everyone, including lawyers, gave me the run around and eventually my home was broken into and all paperwork stolen, including tax returns and SS card and a slew of other personal things. I guess I disrupted whatever scheme they were doing. Eventually sold and moved. Corruption goes deep and the neighbors were 100% involved in some way with the break ins
Question, couldn't you just take updated papers down and have them filled... Therefore putting the burden of court on the original people who attempted the fraud?
What keeps the man from doing the exact same thing she did to undo what she did?!?! In his case, there would be no fraud so he shouldn't be exposed to any negative legal repercussions.
It's not just potential squatters that move into unoccupied homes. My daughter's neighbor died a few years ago, and his widow moved in with one of their children, leaving her home unoccupied. She decided she couldn't live there without her husband, so she emptied the house except for some lamps, and let it sit for a year before listing it for sale. Nothing happened during that year. The lamps were on timers, and nobody nosed around. But when she listed it for sale, she posted pictures of empty rooms. Twice in that week someone or some persons broke into the house in the middle of the night, stealing the copper plumbing and other fixtures. They busted through the walls to get at it. So if you're listing a home for sale, post pictures with the kind of furniture that makes it look lived in. Not the home improvement show interior design stuff, because that screams unoccupied house, too.
I am dead set against public records like this. Private property should be just that, PRIVATE. Nobody should be able to see property records for privately held property without a court order.
imo the best thing an investigator/reporter can do in a situation like this to drive home the point how ridiculous the county's response is, is to find out where the person who made that statement lives, and file a fake deed on their property and see if it gets accepted/filed. As a bonus, also file a fake deed against the County Supervisor's home, the Mayor's home, or other key members of the county/local government. 1. If it gets accepted and filed, it will showcase how much of a clown show the laws and filing process is (likely leading to embarrassment and legislation/change) and force them to deal with the same headaches to fix the issue as the original homeowner.. Or, 2. if the filings are rejected, then will showcase the double standards/hypocrisy, how when the tables are turned, they block bogus filings against government official's properties, but for regular citizens, they don't, and also reveal their lies about being unable to check. Also, 3. If #1 occurs, and it is revealed to their office by the reporter about the bogus deeds against their properties, if they go out of their way to remove them, rather than file new paperwork, and prove in civil court they own their own property, like they told the original homeowner to do, it will reveal the preferential treatment/double standards they are willing to perform for themselves and their government colleagues, by removing the document without going the very same process they told the homeowner to go through.
My brother in law used to search deeds looking for properties with no owners. He planned to file a deed for them and then sell the property. As far as I know he never found one.
I was one who sent this to you. What good is a registered deed if it is not proof of ownership? How is it that ownership of property is proven if not a deed.
a real government would find a way to stop this in it's tracks (maybe mandatory ten years in prison) ...... shouldn't even be an issue in this nation imo 😕
"Your honor this was clear fraud. As evidence, here's the deed to your house, now in my name."
Really.. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
"You're honour, this was clear fraud. I've just done fraud on your home"
Like that would go anywhere else but straight to jail 😂
I appreciate the sentiment though hahahaha
@@Kx0195 A lot of people don't really care unless they feel it. It's about sending a message.
@@Kx0195 To be fair though, The people who really need to care about this, are the ones who have the power to make/change policies and laws.
No one should be able to file a deed like with out either a documented purchase or a lengthy, expensive legal process for them. The woman that did this makes her living by filing deeds on what she hopes are abandoned properties. In other words she is squatting on a whole other level.
What there needs to be is a system to simplify and cheapen the process for dealing with false filings once they're identified. Its understandable why there's no system for verifying the documents at time of filing, but its inexcusable there's no system for EFFICIENTLY addressing the matter once an issue is found.
@@FormulaFox if systems were digitized and properly interconnected then it would be possible, but as of now a lot of government systems are still relying on ancient systems
That woman, and that attorney, needs to be both locked up, and the attorney needs to be stripped and disbarred.
@@SeanBZA No way in hell was that an actual attorney. That was her husband/boyfriend trying to get the TV station off their back.
@@eddythefool That would help once fraud was identified, for sure. But it'd still be a lot of legwork to verify if there was no obvious up-front detail to flag a filing as fraudulent.
Probably just easier to "fraudulently" transfer it back to himself. Who's going to do anything about it? Who is the injured party in that scenario?
Committing another fraud doesn’t make you legal in possession of the property. Going to a court establishes an official record of what happened.
@@jeffc5474 is it fraud if you transfer your own property to yourself? yeah, its unnecesary filing fees, and may look suspicious, but i think anyone can enter a contract with themselves to sell them their property.. i mean both parties agree..
This would not "clean up" the problem. Title would be still be "clouded by the fraudulent deed. Must file legal action to "quiet title"
That's probably cheaper than $8k 😂
@@unitrader403 It isn't fraud if no one is defrauded, so if he deeds the property to himself, or to his wife as the last person filing he'll be the owner of record.
If you are ever going to vacate a house before sale, place an alarm system in the house. Catch them breaking and entering, which is a criminal offense. That will get them free room and board, which is what they wanted.
It may get them an overnight stay in jail, but no more, unless they've violated parole.
The key is catching them early and even having photo or video evidence of their breaking and entering. If they somehow didn't damage a door or window photo, video or a witness would be really helpful. I would prefer photo or video since it may be possible to get a witnesses testimony dismissed.
Well she got the deed without ever setting foot in the house, that's the issue we need to prevent.
Right? Our house, in a different state, sat empty for nine months while we tried to sell it. After living in near constant panic that something like this would happen we just turned it into a rental. Whew!
Really.. So you don't know NOTHING is ever FREE?? 💯💯
Guess who's gonna pay?? 😂😂😂
I once bought a piece of property that was adjacent to some commerical property I owned. The guy who owned it, not the brightest bulb in any room (although nice), had been afraid he was going to lose his home in a bankruptcy so he and a friend drafted up an attachment to his deed and took it down to be recorded. As Steve mentioned, no one actually read the document, they simply recorded. When we closed on the property, he ended up with less than half the selling price because it cost so much to clean up the deed so the property could be sold. I would point up that more and more county registrars are setting up programs for people to be notified if/when there is any activity related to your deed(s). I am set up so that my wife and myself get an email on any activity AND they have both our cell numbers in the event of anything major. If your country registrar doesn't offer the service - push them to set up something!
How bout like a “credit freeze” style impediment to any deed’s questionable unauthorized changes ?
This is funny. I'm dealing with a similar issue. They do this at the courthouse every day. I own my house outright and I get a bill for my property taxes bill every year. And they send me a letter saying they'll for close if I don't pay. Aren't taxes due only at the sale? So what they do is take your legitimate deed from you when they "record it" they give you a deed of trust. Why do you think the bank rolls the tax payment into into the mortgage. So you don't look into it any farther ...think of all the extra rime and effort spent that the bank does free of charge to calculate each morgatges tax fees and mail them In separately for each mortgage. Wonder why they would go out of their way to do that at their expense
@@jordykellogg5568I don't know where you live but I'm pretty sure property taxes are normally due every year. Whether or not you (outright) own or Finance your home.
@@karezaalonso7110 and to hit on the being due every half year. Why is a car different? Do you pay tax on anything else twice a year as well as when you first purchase it? Do you have to pay the Kelley Blue book price tax amount twice a year to the BMV...(registration isn't that) ..And if ur curious any one get on the revised code( Ohio) at least and see where the property tax money goes...as it reads no more than 5% can go towards schools..also after they pass a levy that raises the property tax why doesnt it fall back off after the bill has been taken care of for improvements or something of that nature as it often is. Oh and before I forget as it used to be schools and church's were exempt from taxes. Because you can't question children or the church..( yet theres been a running joke since the crusades about the church raping children) because your likely to be tried of treason. Hell with em. This country is supposed to be founded on protesting bullshit taxes...and before your instinctual dismissal of myself as a tax evader scumbag as were taught to do...ask yourself a question, "do I like paying taxes?" Then ask your neighbors see what they say. I'm not against all taxes just the bullshit ones
I got on a rant and missed the last point maybe it'll be more visible this way anyhow..CHUCHES , SCHOOLS, ANNNND OIL AND GAS COMPANYS....are not required to pay a real property tax. At leaston the things in the company's name. Or involved in the production of the oil and gas...I guess they paid enough up front to the governer🫳🎤
There needs to be a statute placed for FULL recovery of all costs related to correcting fraud. It should include all costs, fees, and time involved in the cleanup.
Treble damages to boot!
IMO the state itself should also be held liable for having such a horrendously insecure system. Private parties can be held liable for their incompetence allowing other people to commit crimes, so why shouldn't the state?
If it was effective, it could really cool down the current fraud wave. But the source of the compensation would have to include money from the crimes - kind of like the RICO act.
As good as that sounds... think about it. These POS are scamming tyhe the system. You would never collect, only get more frustrated. I plan on applying the Castle Doctrine, no mercy.
It would likely be a worthless piece of paper....
Have a property free and clear? File a lien against it so you get notified if someone tries this.
You can file a lien against your own property? Good idea.
A common method is to open a home equity line of credit.
@@thebigmacd And pay a bank interest? Filing a lien is cheaper.
@@MonkeyJedi99 you don't have to borrow against it. When you secure the loan you pay that lien fee. Then you have a HELOC at your disposal if needed.
Liens are useless. I know people who had liens on himes that eventually was sold and the liens were never satified
The fastest way to fix that problem is to file deed transfer for the house of every member of state congress and send them an eviction notice. That would get the legislature move fast to fix it.
Yeah but just so YOU don't get in trouble who do you transfer the title too? Mickey Mouse?
@@jamie81972 I would go for Bartholomew Simpson, Marty McFly, John Rambo, Anthony Stark, Jessica Jones, Kara Danvers, Jean Grey. Different names for all of them, but all of them from fictional characters that can sound like a real person name. Something that a simple google search would point to a fake name.
@@jamie81972 jack mehoff
May be faster to fill one of those shallow depressions in the state forest.
no they would quickly arrest you and not change anything
State Legislatures need to put regulations in place to reduce and / or eliminate this type of fraud.. It would also be nice to see some laws to protect the property owner as well.
Sadly, the people who want state and federal legislation to protect the interests of the masses can't afford to buy enough politicians to get anything out of committee.
Easy way would be to spend the money to register deeds for all of legislature's homes. Don't say anything or make any claim beyond that for a few years and see how long it takes them to find a solution.
Perhaps the fraudsters would be kind enough to try this BS with a few legislators in each state, from both major parties. Watch how fast they come up with solutions.
$8,000???!!!! You can hire Vito and Big Mickey for $1500!
Sadly, that’s what it’s coming down to. It’s like a second world country, already.
NC lawyer here. 14-100 obtaining property under false pretenses
So deed registries are basically just an ATM for the town.
My Wife is the Register of Deeds of our county. Her vendor who supplies her software system came up with a free service where if your name shows up on ANY document upon filing it triggers an alert email to let you know someone filed something on your property. Speed is the best defense to prevent Deed/mortgage fraud. As soon as you see it you ask for the nature of the document - it typically takes weeks for a fraudster to complete a deed fraud. You have to be proactive as soon as you hear to shut it down quick.🤠😎
The charges for filing a false Deed need to be more severe. To the point that someone convicted of such a crime gets repeat offense charges just by looking through a window.
Typical ameritard... Make everything a fewony....
She should have slave rights after this. All identification documents gone. Birth certificate all deeds titles and certificates gone. No SSN. No owned property. No right to vote, nothing.
Keep a lien for $1 on the property with a bank or credit union (with their permission). Then the filing of a fraudulent lien becomes a FELONY! Same with automobile titles! 😁
Plus you now have very easy access to loans at a low interest rate, as there already is a loan registered on the property, and amending it is a lot easier than registering a new one.
This sounds very interesting. Can you elaborate a bit more on the actual process, especially the part that involves the financial institution?
@@odkdsjf Your bank or credit union will be happy (tickled pink) to have such a low risk, high collateral loan parked for you, especially if you are a good customer with good credit. Forging title and deed signatures is usually a civil misdemeanor, whereas forging a signature on a loan document is a CRIMINAL FELONY! 😁
HOWEVER... What does that do to your credit score? Your 800 score now becomes 680??? ...just wondering.
@@jsivco3sivco785 My credit score went down 40 points just after I paid off my home loan, and had no home loan. So having a current mortgage helped me keep a higher score.
Blows my mind that this isn't just solved by computers. Yeah, the clerks don't have the time or patience to double check these things, but that's the type of thing computers excel at. The real trouble is bureaucracy makes syncing up all those databases impossible, nothing else. The technology is there, cooperation between those databases is possible. Banks have constantly done exactly the same thing for decades now.
government can't do much right at all. individuals are protecting themselves and their own interests. thats why governments should be small and almost powerless.
Oh yeah? Explain what a computer is supposed to do?
@@Look_What_You_Did The problem is that no one is double checking information against the information that the different parts of the government already have, right? So computers do the checking and things that don't match up don't get filed and someone is flagged to let the relevant parties know that there's a problem. This is very similar to what banks do to prevent kiting, which isn't really a thing anymore because computers are great at it.
@@SharmClucas there was just a bunch of tiktokers kiting checks and taking out money at atms . called it infinite money hack
Until they digitize everything AND MAKE SURE that the databse isn't avalable to be hacked by bad actors, then they can put a system in place that the clerk has to look over the documents and if it is a deed to something, they have to notify the seller and buyer who have to sit down in front of an official, perhaps a notary where they both agree to the transfer. To prevent ID theft where the bac actor might be tempted to impersonate the actual owner, they can record the affair on video, fingerprint both parties, and required sufficient ID to prove they are the original owner. Then file the deed.
As soon as I heard "Attorney of Fact", I knew this was some Sovereign Citizen nonsense. Anytime they get busted for something, they always whip out that, "What was the law I broke?" despite being told multiple times. If they don't like it, it's not a law. "That's not a law, it's a statute." They don't understand those are the same thing.
Ok then, we're going to put you in jail for breaking a statue...
The “attorney of fact” has a surname of “Bey” which is another dead giveaway that at least one sovsh*t was involved in the fraud.
"The law" is whatever the person with the biggest stick says it is. The designation given to the entity with the biggest stick in a given geographical area is "The Government".
For those who think this is a 'squatter' issue like someone 'breaking into' a house and occupying, it's not.
Ben flaunting himself ahead of the KAARME number plate.
I'm late. Good job. See you next time. Maybe the Vault.
@@BenLeitch I'll likely catch that tomorrow as its past 7pm here. Good hunting.
Life. Get one.
Thank you for this story Steve, I went online and registered for such an alert before I even finished watching this video. It was easy and is something I never would have thought about and hopefully will help should something like this occur to me.
This is where the law needs to be corrected so that victims of fraud are refunded their legal fees for having to correct this kind of BS!
I agree but all you'd get is a judgement. I doubt anyone doing this kind of fraud would care if there's a judgement against her.
Why not just file a new deed for himself?
The city should pay all legal expenses and damages to the legal property owner.
Happened to me and no one will understand until it happens to them
Split between the city and the original person who fraudulently clouded the title
@chrstfer2452 the city can pursue the person who filed the paperwork
The fraudsters probably thought if it was listed as a foreclosure it was abandoned by the prior owner and they could then extort the foreclosing entity for a big cash buyout to move out.
That was my thought. They probably thought it would be empty and then they could move in and make it a squatter case.
Hey Steve, could you do an episode (or maybe a TH-cam short) explaining what an "attorney in fact" is?
OK, this phrase also seemed a little, well, SovCit (Sovereign Citizen, depends on willful misunderstanding and cherry picking of laws to claim some sort of immunity to laws or ability to transfer property to themselves through fraudulent documents) to me.
So I did a little research into it.
It refers to a person who is authorized to act on someone's behalf that is not a lawyer.
Now, I am familiar with power of attorney. So it does make quite a bit of sense now.
I suppose if I ever had to exercise the power of attorney that I hold for say the care of my mother, that would make me an attorney in fact for her despite my not having studied law nor having a degree in any ancillary legal course of study.
When my father owned an apartment building, I was his Lawyer In Fact so I could represent him and file evictions under the Tenant Landlord Act.
@@josephvarno5623 Huh? You can have power of attorney and not be a lawyer. Are you saying that if someone asks, you are not supposed to say that you are their attorney, but rather that you are their attorney in fact?
@phillipsusi1791 if you are in court, yes.
The bar gets a little twitchy about verbiage.
Who pays the property tax???
Nothing to be done here folks, our hands are tied, don't make us actually work for a living.
I don't buy that it's inconceivably hard to fix this.
Setting up a computer program to check all databases wouldn't be terribly hard unless the different agencies fight each other
it's a moneymaker for lawyers . that's why it's hard
If the man has been paying his taxes all along, then it should be easy to determine that this is fraudulent and remove it.
So why couldn't the guy just do the same thing instead of going to court.
I have wondered this too?
I’m thinking they have to have a legal hearing to establish that a fraud had taken place.
Deed would have an additional cloud on top of the fraudulent one.
Yeah. He should just file a deed giving it back to himself.
Most likely because it wouldn't clear it up. It's cloudy because there's contradicting recorded documents. Adding another contradicting record on top would still leave it cloudy.
I live here locally where this happened. I tried explaining this to my coworkers and they think stuff like this is a joke and the story because it doesn't make sense ... until they read the story ... basically people are oblivious how the law works when it comes to squatters. I registered today with Wake County Register of Deeds to alert me if anything is filed with my name on it. This scares me and I wasn't even involved.
here is a quick way to fix it, file deeds on the properties of the entire state legislature...
and then walk through the place like you own it :D
Jail the notary that fraudulently notarized the document.
Or at least require that the document be notarized.
Notarizing a document does not make it a legal document. The notary seal only signifies that the person who signed it was verified. The notary has no liability unless they were involved in the fraud.
All the notary does is say the person swore that the statement was true and that the person showed their ID. A notary does not verify the statement.
@@willer3399 Which they were if they didn't verify the identity of the person conveying the property.
This assumes that a notarized deed conveyance document is required. If it's not, it certainly should be.
Notaries are only responsible for verifying the signature matches their ID. Not responsible for crimes committed using that signature.
@@RealMesaMike A notary has no responsibility to verify the legitimacy of the document(s) they are applying their seal to. They are only responsible for verifying that the person who signs the document is the person indicated.
The worst part is that this guy now has to go to court to clear it up! Not everyone has thousands of dollars to throw at this.
People who do this should get 20 years in prison
If there were actual enforcement of harsh penalties this wouldn't be a thing.
Thanks for another one Steve
In NYC, they notify the current/previous owner(s) by mail if any deed or transfer document is filed on the property. It has been rampant in NYC too.
if they have the owners correct address . often they don't
One Attorney "No crime" 2nd Attorney "Fraud". This is America!!!
And,The US Legal System is TOP NOTCH?GIMME A BREAK.
It's garbage, UNLESS, you're wealthy, connected, in the government, or a viral situation such as public outrage. Everybody else is just tax cattle
It’s archaic as all get out hahaha
Happened in Chicago a few years back. Sharp Clerk realized it was done on a superseded form.
That's really interesting to me because so much of Chicago title was in the Torrens system. Title was in Torrens, and the landowner got a Torrens Certificate of Title, quite different. Anything filed had to go through Torrens and that could be how it was caught.
I heard or read that Chicago did away with Torrens. To me it was a good system. Massachusetts offers something very close by filing deeds with a Court of Law that administers just like Torrens.
@@HighHolyOne System was alright. It's just Sydney Olsen, a fossilized party loyalist used the office for the most incompetent patronage workers available. really messed it up for people as I recall.
This problem could be eliminated so easily and yet lawmakers refuse to do so. It feels as if they want these problems to persist to feed the court industrial complex, or perhaps they even love criminals.
If all it takes to file something like that it should a: not require a civil suit to fix and b: whatever filing happens should not hold so much power while being so painfully easy to abuse.
There needs to be a FEDERAL LAW that compels a HUMAN with a verified address file deeds, change mortgages, buy or sell any property at all. Its unbelievable any of the identity theft crap is happening. If legislators think they need to legislate then they should do something positive for a change instead of just making things worse with their retrograde progress.
likely it's a state matter.this is the problem living in a country that has 50 separate " countries" in an alliance . states rights and all that
It's 2024. Maybe it would be time to computerize these things so it would give an alert about fraudulent filing attempt. As somebody who works in IT, I am 100% confident it could be done with modern technology.
your talking about every po dunk county in the us where the locals get militant about paying taxes for govt to do stuff.
Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo Tx. Been there many times!
After a criminal conviction, the statute should mandate immediate correction to the records at the County Recorder's office within 60 days. The victim should not be forced to engage in the civil process to restore their own records. The criminal judge should sign a court order and the clerk should certify it. Then the victim walks it over over the Recorder's Office and the 60 days starts. In addition, a person who is filing a new deed should be required to get a separate one page document notarized with the signature of the current recorded owner that they are aware and have knowledge of the new deed. Too simple?? At the very least require the person who has their name on the new deed actually be the person who is filing it and have the clerk make a copy of their valid photo ID when filing it with a statement that they know it is a felony to file a fraudulent document. No valid ID... the clerk cannot not accept the filing. That may discourage a lot of fraud.
I wonder what is the address of the Register of Deeds?
2024 and they don't have a database of notaries, and can't check the validity of 500 documents per day? Seriously? What's tax money even going to?
The explanation by the clerks office could have been shortened to: “we are intentionally set up to cost people money so that we can keep our jobs”.
If you're gonna file a deed, they should require photo ID, fingerprints, a photo taken on the spot, to verify identity of the filer.
Whoever filed the documents for "filing" should be required to prove/provide legal authority to file( linked to existing attorneys), and prove their ID, by signing an anti-fraud document?
So if you owe money to a bank they'll protect the bank.... if you own the property then good luck to you?? Sounds about right.
I work at a Register of Deeds office in the star of Michigan. We are required by state law to record any document that meets state requirements. Requirements are, drafted by name/address, return to name/address, grantor name/address, grantee name/address, legal description of the property, consideration amount, mcl exemption(s) or Treasury stamp & /or sticker, grantor signature w/ printed name, notary acknowledgement with name of person signing (this must match the printed name under the signature), notary signature, notary printed name & expiration date. In some cases additional information is necessary to be on the document. Part of the burden is on the notary to be sure the person matches the ID.
There are many types of fraud, people claiming to have power of attorney signing for the person and fraudulent signing just to name a few.
Since they give a free pass to the registrars office the local D.A. needs to be very aggressive with anyone fraudulently filing papers.
Raise the filing fees to cover the costs of vetting filed documents (plus a margin). This would provide security for the legitimate owners and massively reduce the incentive for nefarious filings.
So why doesn't he just files just the way they did, since he is the owner, no laws broken.
Steve, could one file a ham sandwich?
Possibly not, but. You could file a picture of it.
You can indict it
Why doesn't he just file a new deed like she did? Then he gets the property back.
Florida passed a law addressing this very problem.
Thank you, Steve, for addressing this. Cheers.
I regularly check county records to be sure they still have my ownership listed.
They claim there is no way for them to prevent this?
I have a feeling if this happens to enough important people (mayors, congressmen, etc) they'll suddenly figure out a way to keep this from happening.
As long as the Government gets the FEE... they have NO Responsibility!
So what is the FEE For?
Anything the government allows you to change in minutes they should allow to be undone in the same time. It’s crazy that anyone can just walk in and file this that and the other, but the one suffering from that has to spend months fixing it.
I hope that they charge the "attorney-in-fact" as well as the woman with criminal fraud ...
A friend was helping another friend buy an estate property and did most of the legwork himself. What happened during one visit to the Orange County CA recorder to file some documents he asked about the format.
the lady's comment was hilarious and was "if you bring in your underpants, and pay the $35, we'll record them".
If the county can’t be bothered to verify the legitimacy of the documents they accept, they should be liable for all the costs associated with correcting issues related to illegitimate documents.
A friend of mine has a last name so unique that a Google search (in quotes) has only EVER brought up her, her brother, & their uncle in this country. With both men having passed away, she's the only living person in the US with that last name. I found a lawsuit filed in her name (exact match of first & last name) across the country that she knows nothing about.
Would there be a reason for an attorney to sue without the named plaintiff being aware?
I mean, the lawyer has a point, the police always shrug when some nobody loses everything to fraud.
Defraud a billionaire out of rounded pennies, though, and your door is going to get hit so hard it lands in the next county.
@2:00 "What was the name of the law …" Oh, Dear Lord .... that's a SovCit shibboleth.
Make anyone submitting any kind of paperwork to any government office put their thumbprint on it in front of the employee accepting the document(s), as well as making it a policy that the notary and the person accepting it must also record their thumbprint? In some instances you can't even cash a check at a bank without submitting a thumbprint. But you can attempt to fraudulently take ownership of capital? The bureaucracy is not without fault here just because they process a high volume of documents. And there are basic precautions that could easily be written into the process to make it less difficult for scammers when allegations of fraud are made. You can't even mail a bulky parcel without the oversight of a USPS clerk. Why would there be a self-service option for something with the potential to produce similarly explosive results in the metaphorical sense?
I really hope everyone involved in committing this fraud goes to prison
They are more likely to get elected to a State office.
Probably an illegal declaring "asylum" status. Can't be touched.
First off, woman in jail & her attorney in jail! Then require both of them to pay the fees to straighten everything out plus a charge for the time it takes per hour, not per day. Make them both pay for this the REST of their lives!
no charges have been filed? thats total bullshit! both the woman and her lawyer should be in jail.
Increase the filing fee to cover the vetting process. If it takes a clerk a few days to vet a document, that's only a few hundred dollars. If it's fraudulent, it costs the victim thousands of dollars and months to fix. Seems like simple math to me.
If you paying taxes for your home every year. By God they better make sure your paperwork is correct.
Can’t he just file another deed? Reverse UNO!
ComeOnMan......Tryi to steal someone's house. Put them in jail.
Quick way to get rid of squatters, go visit the local Hells Angels or other 1% MC and "rent" them your house for a week for a dollar. Make sure to have a rental contract signed, dated, and notarized.
It should not cost the victim money. The DA should ask the court to remove the piece of paper from the records upon conviction of the culprits. Or if the culprits don't want to be charged, they should go down and request their fraudulent paper back with a 'sorry we didn't mean it' line. Or is this now a 'civil' matter?
so an HOA actually did some good this time - amazing
Quick claim the house back to yourself just like she did
“Oh, look! Isn’t that the woman who tried to steal a house by fraud floating face down in that creek with her lawyer?”
Smells like sov cit nonsense...
1:44 Definitely. As soon as that guy said he was the “Attorney in Fact,” you know they are SovCits.
Same thought here!
Exactly. Local newspapers report the Attorney in Fact's name as "Musa Bey." They always ask "what law is broken?" It's in their playbook.
@@workingfolk A “Moor”? Even better.
Unfortunately, there will now be a spike in fraudulent deed filings everywhere.
Our County is letting property owners sign up for property fraud alert monitoring that informs us if anything gets filed with our name on it. It might be time to do that, but I can't imagine a criminal bothering with our place when there's a castle across the water.
This was something that worried me when we moved out of our old home, fixing it up to sell. Well at least the risk of squatters. Kept our cameras up and internet going.
She wasted her money and time with attorney in fact and filing. She could have got it for free by squatting and get it in adverse possession without color of title eventually if left unnoticed for 7 years. Adverse possession law needs to be changed. Home owners with more than one real property need to be aware.
Not if she mysteriously was found un-alived sometime after breaking in....
i think seller lived there
It’s in a gated community to which she was denied access and the owner lives in the house
@@The_Ascension adverse possession means nothing if the paperwork was filed incorrectly in the first place. I lived at a property for 22 years and found out I owned the garage but not the lot it sat on. Meanwhile someone was paying the taxes on the adjacent lot for years, I knew nothing about and getting incentives to buy other properties and businesses. When I did find out/question I was told to pay $8k, then $10k to obtain both lots, which I didn’t want. The people who filed/sold the property were dead and gone. So many mistakes were made that I was unaware of as it was an inherited property eventually. Over the years I received random peoples mail that never resided there, constantly returning it. Meanwhile a random person showed up with court house paperwork showing me the adjacent lot was sectioned off and sold at auction and his wife showed up screaming at me that they now owned my garage. Everyone, including lawyers, gave me the run around and eventually my home was broken into and all paperwork stolen, including tax returns and SS card and a slew of other personal things. I guess I disrupted whatever scheme they were doing. Eventually sold and moved. Corruption goes deep and the neighbors were 100% involved in some way with the break ins
Question, couldn't you just take updated papers down and have them filled... Therefore putting the burden of court on the original people who attempted the fraud?
this is not a mistake on the homeowners part. this is total ineptitude on the part of the courts.
What keeps the man from doing the exact same thing she did to undo what she did?!?!
In his case, there would be no fraud so he shouldn't be exposed to any negative legal repercussions.
May God protect us from evil, seriously!
It's not just potential squatters that move into unoccupied homes. My daughter's neighbor died a few years ago, and his widow moved in with one of their children, leaving her home unoccupied. She decided she couldn't live there without her husband, so she emptied the house except for some lamps, and let it sit for a year before listing it for sale. Nothing happened during that year. The lamps were on timers, and nobody nosed around. But when she listed it for sale, she posted pictures of empty rooms. Twice in that week someone or some persons broke into the house in the middle of the night, stealing the copper plumbing and other fixtures. They busted through the walls to get at it. So if you're listing a home for sale, post pictures with the kind of furniture that makes it look lived in. Not the home improvement show interior design stuff, because that screams unoccupied house, too.
I am dead set against public records like this. Private property should be just that, PRIVATE. Nobody should be able to see property records for privately held property without a court order.
imo the best thing an investigator/reporter can do in a situation like this to drive home the point how ridiculous the county's response is, is to find out where the person who made that statement lives, and file a fake deed on their property and see if it gets accepted/filed. As a bonus, also file a fake deed against the County Supervisor's home, the Mayor's home, or other key members of the county/local government.
1. If it gets accepted and filed, it will showcase how much of a clown show the laws and filing process is (likely leading to embarrassment and legislation/change) and force them to deal with the same headaches to fix the issue as the original homeowner..
Or,
2. if the filings are rejected, then will showcase the double standards/hypocrisy, how when the tables are turned, they block bogus filings against government official's properties, but for regular citizens, they don't, and also reveal their lies about being unable to check.
Also,
3. If #1 occurs, and it is revealed to their office by the reporter about the bogus deeds against their properties, if they go out of their way to remove them, rather than file new paperwork, and prove in civil court they own their own property, like they told the original homeowner to do, it will reveal the preferential treatment/double standards they are willing to perform for themselves and their government colleagues, by removing the document without going the very same process they told the homeowner to go through.
The penalty for fraudulent filings should be extreme. It would stop.
My brother in law used to search deeds looking for properties with no owners. He planned to file a deed for them and then sell the property. As far as I know he never found one.
So much news today !! This one is close to home so I’m definitely all in!!
I was one who sent this to you. What good is a registered deed if it is not proof of ownership? How is it that ownership of property is proven if not a deed.
the attorney definitely needs to lose their license and go to prison.
a real government would find a way to stop this in it's tracks (maybe mandatory ten years in prison) ...... shouldn't even be an issue in this nation imo 😕