Real estate fraud is a serious problem in Florida and across the nation.
A Tampa couple is still fighting to get their home back. It’s been almost a year since someone took our home and changed the deed without our permission or knowledge. Dreama and Larry Bilby were not living in the house at the time, but the house was being renovated. It was the house they had lived in for 40 years.
The Bilbys had set up surveillance cameras because they were planning to go out.
And earlier this year, Dreama Bilby noticed a man and woman snooping around her house on surveillance video. The couple returned to the house many times. Larry Bilby decided to register for a property fraud alert through the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court. Dreama said she received a call from the office a few days later.
“We got word that our act had changed. ‘Well, lo and behold, we rushed to the court clerk. The first thing you have to do is check with them. Then you have to file a crime report.’ So we did all of these things because, yeah, our conduct changed. “Someone put our house and its name under an LLC,” she said.
Hillsborough County Court Clerk Cindy Stewart said Michelle Cherry and her husband Victor Rodriguez, who came to Tampa from Miami in January, stole Bilby’s property in February using a quitclaim deed. Ta. They were videotaped submitting documents in an office.
Probably most people do not know about this type of trading. This is an easy way to transfer property and its ownership from one person to another, for example in the case of divorce or the transfer of property from elderly parents to children.
“It’s a one-page document with very little information needed. It includes the address of the property, the current owner, and basically the property’s current name to the name listed at the bottom. It includes a statement that you intend to move. All you need is two people’s names, two addresses, and two signatures,” Stuart said.
Assistant State Attorney Michael Lennon heads Hillsborough County’s Economic Crimes Unit. He said the law provides no way to prevent such crimes.
“It’s too easy for someone to forge a retirement claim and get it into the clerk’s office, and there’s no real safeguard other than a notification system. But it’s only after the fact that someone gets arrested and someone gets prosecuted. “Because now they’re being caught on camera doing it. But that doesn’t prevent forged deeds from actually being filed,” Lennon said.
By law, all counties in Florida must provide a free service that alerts people when deeds have changed, including for homes, businesses, and vacant land.
And in nearly every county in Florida, you can do that through the clerk of court’s website.
However, such warnings do not prevent fraud from occurring. They will only let you know within about 24 hours that it happened. Otherwise, you may not know whether you will receive a tax bill from the county or not. Tax bills usually arrive in January or November.
Lee County is undergoing a two-year pilot program to close loopholes in state law that make this type of situation more likely.
“I think in an ideal world, the clerk’s office should have the power to refuse documents to your face. The question is, how do you know a document is a forgery? In fact, when you dig into the details of whether a document is a forgery, it’s actually very difficult to know for a fact that a piece of paper is fraudulent. Officer Kevin Kearns said.
“…How do you know that a document is a forgery? In fact, if you dig into the details of whether you can know for a fact that a paper is a forgery, it’s actually very It’s difficult.”
Lee County Court Clerk Kevin Kearns
He said the pilot program is built on obtaining a government-issued ID linked to land records.
“So if someone in the community says they think this is a fraudulent land transaction, law enforcement now not only has potentially false documents, but they also have all the documents involved in that transaction. We also have government-issued IDs for the parties involved,” Kearns said.
He said the Legislature has tasked his office with compiling a legislative report making recommendations regarding the pilot program. And it’s up to lawmakers to decide the next steps.
Dreama Bilby says if you’re a victim of property fraud, it’s better to file a criminal complaint. That’s what she and her husband, Larry, did. In fact, the same day they learned the deed had been changed, they went to the clerk’s office law library and Larry placed a $500,000 lien on his property.
This prevented thieves from reselling the house. But that didn’t stop Cherry and Rodriguez from making home visits.
“My neighbor of 40 years saw these people around his house and asked what they were doing there. And he’s also actually a bailiff in the Tampa court system. They bought it from Larry and he said, “I know that’s not true.” I need to leave. So as we shared this information, we realized that we were actually facing something here,” she said.
Dreama Bilby said an acquaintance who also had her deed changed fraudulently is fighting back with a civil lawsuit, which has cost her a lot of money.
“I mean, they’ve spent so much money trying to control this, and they’ve been doing it for years, and it’s still out of control for them,” she said.
Hillsboro Assistant State Attorney Michael Lennon said Cherry and Rodriguez will be charged with identity theft. He said it carries heavy penalties. And they are accused of committing such fraud this year by using forged documents and forged signatures to change the deeds of three separate homes in Hillsborough County.
“When an asset engages in identity theft, using someone else’s name or forging another person’s signature is considered identity theft under Florida law. If the theft is committed and the property involved exceeds $100,000, the crime carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 30 years in state prison,” Lennon said. said.
He said he would like to see lawmakers change the law to require property owners to be present when a deed of abandonment is used at a town hall. And I had more ideas about what I wanted to change.
“And if the grantor is unable to witness a quick and clean transfer of the deed, the transaction must take place at a licensed title agent, because a licensed title agent is more likely to “This is because there will be safeguards in place, usually including title insurance, which gives the transaction much more legitimacy,” he said.
“Try to keep your property well-kept. If it looks abandoned, has boarded-up windows, is overgrown with grass, or has accumulated mail, remove it. Homes will become more targeted because scammers will see them as easy properties to steal.”
Hillsboro Assistant State Attorney Michael Lennon
Mr Lennon said people should register for property fraud alerts if they plan to be away from home for an extended period of time.
“Try to keep your property well-kept. If it looks abandoned, has boarded-up windows, is overgrown with grass, or has accumulated mail, remove it. “Homes will become more targeted because scammers will see them as easy properties to steal,” he says. Said.
They will then try to flip the house by selling it to an unsuspecting buyer.
It’s unclear whether the surge in vacancies caused by Hurricanes Helen and Milton will cause an increase in real estate fraud. But Cindy Stewart, a clerk in Hillsboro, thinks that might be the case.
“So I think it’s going to continue to increase. Like any natural disaster, there’s always fraud and crime involved,” she says.
You can sign up for Florida real estate fraud alerts through this website.
If the link doesn’t work, go directly to the website of the clerk of court for the county where your property is located. The only exception is Broward County, where fraud alerts are issued through the real estate appraiser’s office.
