SIREN, Wis. (WJMC) — A real estate property scam is targeting vacation homes and vacant land in Burnett County and elsewhere.
Scammers are defrauding realtors, owners and buyers, as they pose as owners looking to make a quick sale of unoccupied property the scammers don’t actually own. The Burnett County Sheriff’s Office and the Burnett County Register of Deeds Jeanne Taylor, recommends owners sign up for property fraud alerts.
Taylor said her office does not conduct the sales or transfers, just records the transactions, deeds and liens related to properties in the county. And with more deals being done electronically, it can be easier for scammers to dupe people.
“And what that [the alert] program does, is if anything is recorded with their name on it, it will sent them a text alert or an email alert that says ‘hey, a document was recorded in your name.’ So that way, if their property has been fraudulently transferred or sold through these scams, they would be notified upon somebody recording that,” Taylor said.
“It’s a lot easier to catch a bad guy if you catch them right after, as opposed to years after.”
You can sign up for the free program at propertyfraudalert.com. Anyone who is notified with an alert should contact their county register of deeds office and sheriff’s department.
