Thanks to a new state law authored by Cook County Recorder of Deeds (CCRD) Karen A. Yarbrough, Tracey B. Williams of A.R.E. Partners in Chicago became the first Realtor/Broker in Illinois to become an official registrar for CCRD’s Free Property Fraud Alert monitoring service. CCRD’s Free Property Fraud Alert is a software program that scans […]
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Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen A. Yarbrough wants to educate all Cook County property owners about fraud, and is kicking off an effort to ensure that immigrant communities where English is not a first language receive this important information. On Tuesday, November 26th, a special Property Fraud Awareness Seminar will be held for the […]
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NBC 5’s Lisa Parker gets at the heart of the problem with property and recording fraud: criminals and bad actors abusing the open recording system and a collective sense of honesty on which we all rely. Because homeowner’s can’t “freeze” their property titles and because County Recorders aren’t allowed by law to verify legal claims […]
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On Saturday, November 9, 2013, Cook County Recorder Karen A. Yarbrough and top members of her staff will join with the Greater Chatham Alliance community organization to offer a Free Property and Deed Fraud Awareness Seminar. The event will take place at Crerar Presbyterian Church, 8100 S. Calumet, in Chicago, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. […]
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Recorder Karen Yarbrough likes to tell people: “If you think you own your home…check the deed.” You may be reading this post because you received a postcard in the mail from our office notifying you of a Quitclaim Deed filed against your property, which can be an indicator of fraud. Or you may have heard […]
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The Cook County Recorder of Deeds’ Property Fraud Unit is used to receiving reports of recording fraud, but up until two weeks ago, it had never received a call reporting an attempted home theft in progress. The elderly woman on the line said a man was downstairs changing her locks, and showed her a document […]
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Video can be viewed in right sidebar —-> CBS Chicago’s Mike Puccinelli broke a story that we were proud to be a part of: though we are used to getting calls about suspected property fraud, never had we received a call about a crime in progress. In this situation, the scammer was changing the locks […]
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Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen A. Yarbrough is warning property owners about solicitations from “deed providers” – companies that resell property documents that can be obtained from the Recorder’s Office directly for much cheaper. These companies are not affiliated with the Cook County Recorder, or any government agency. Deed provider solicitations are often designed […]
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Victims of property and recording fraud could soon have new tools to fight back and clear their titles thanks to the Illinois General Assembly’s recent passage of Cook County Recorder Karen A. Yarbrough’s anti-fraud legislative agenda. Recording fraud is the recordation of a document known to be fraudulent in an attempt to create a “cloud […]
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With the passage of a bill on Thursday that would take the costs and burdens of property fraud off the victims, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen A. Yarbrough announced that her entire legislative agenda had cleared the Illinois House of Representatives, and now awaits further action in the Senate. “Even before taking office, I […]
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