Hi. I’m Alexandra Reed Baker, the Sussex County Recorder of Deeds.

I’m here today to talk to you about the rising concern of deed fraud. You’ve probably heard the words “deed fraud” or “title theft” on the news, radio, social media. It’s a topic that’s been receiving a lot of national attention lately. As your elected official, I want to assure you that our office has procedures and protocols in place to help protect against this sort of criminal activity. Protecting the citizens of Sussex County from deed fraud is very important to me.

We recently released the Recording Activity Notification Service. This is a great way to keep a check on any recording activity. There has not been a rise of deed fraud in our office. This is simply just a tool that I wanted to make available to the public and make sure that it was being utilized. What there has been a rise in is fake seller listing scams. In this case, a scammer, will impersonate the property owner and list the property for sale through a real estate agent. Typically, these scammers don’t make it past the settlement attorney, and this usually doesn’t result in an actual deed fraud case. Realtors have best practices in place to safeguard against these scams.

I have also been working with legislators to require that a listing notification letter be mailed to all property owners anytime their property is listed for sale by a licensed real estate agent in Delaware. A deed is not like a car title where you transfer title by signing it. If someone gets a hold of your deed, there’s nothing they can do with it. As a matter of fact, deeds are a matter of public record. In order to transfer title, a new deed must be prepared, signed, notarized, and also accompanied with signed and notarized state and county transfer tax affidavits.

Let’s talk about e-recording or electronically recording documents. Not just anyone can electronically file documents with our office. We only accept electronic filings via Simplifile and CSC. Both CSC and Simplifile do not offer services for individuals looking to record a one-time document. Only verified users can electronically file. For example, Simplifile only allows commercial businesses to use their platform. When a new company wants to begin e-recording with Simplifile, they run a Lexus-Nexus report to confirm that they are a legitimate business. Depending on the information they receive from Lexus-Nexus, Simplifile may also follow up with the Secretary of State to confirm that the business is registered with the State. Simplifile has found that these procedures have worked well at keeping criminals out of their system.

Thank you for taking the time to watch this video. I hope you found it helpful. Please feel free to give our office a call anytime if you have any questions or concerns. The number for the Recorder of Deeds office is 302-855-7785.