ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Officials from four St. Louis metro counties are sounding the alarm about a “quiet crime†trend that they say is targeting property owners across the country.
St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds Mary Dempsey said Thursday that property owners — particularly elderly residents — are being targeted by fraudsters filing claims alleging they own property that belongs to others.
They’re also targeting agriculture areas and vacant homes, she said.
The people who filed these claims had no legitimate right to the property, officials said. It can take years for their claims to be discovered, often only happening when the property owner goes to sell or refinance the property, earning it the moniker of being a “quiet crime.â€
St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds Gerald Smith said county officials have seen several instances of “bad actors†who are “accused of using documents that were fraudulent.â€
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He offered several examples, including two people who are charged with attempting to steal a property owned by the city of Dellwood by filing a fraudulent deed.
He also recalled how a family friend returned to a second home that she owned and found someone remodeling the property.
“ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were just individuals who took it,†he said. “They took advantage of the system, recorded a deed that fraudulently represented themselves as the owner and took ownership.â€
Smith said these examples were not sovereign citizens, a group of individuals who don’t believe United States laws apply to them, though officials have said some sovereign citizens have tried to seize several properties across the region.
On Thursday, Dempsey and Smith were flanked by colleagues from Lincoln and Franklin counties as they announced a renewed campaign to enroll more property owners in a property deed fraud alert program. Dempsey has also partnered with St. Charles County area chambers of commerce to place billboards promoting the program throughout the county.
St. Louis, St. Charles and Franklin counties each participate in “,†a free service that sends text messages, emails and calls property owners whenever a deed is filed that matches their name. Lincoln County uses a similar free service, .
“I really want to make sure that we get ahead of this, and that we are doing everything we can to make sure that this doesn’t happen here,†Dempsey said.
The county has 28,000 people enrolled in the program, including 20,000 that have signed up in the past year.
The St. Charles County alert program triggered more than 5,000 alerts since the beginning of the year.
None of those alerts proved to be fraudulent, but Dempsey said they allowed property owners to verify the status of their property.
“We just want you to know and give you the peace of mind that we have a program that you can sign up for that is completely free,†she said.
Tess Bauer, a senior and Orchard Farm High FFA president, is among a handful of students in St. Charles County still living on family farms.
