Local realtor Jimmy Jernigan warns the public that he was recently approached by emails from a person attempting to fraudulently list property the person did not own.

“Seems like they target people 60 and older or (absent landowners),” Jernigan said. “They pretend to be these people who own the land.”

Jernigan said that the unknown people will find names of local realtors from the Internet, then contact them about an evaluation on a piece of property.

“They even have the seller’s name in the email,” he said. “They pretend to be this guy. If you weren’t paying attention or were a new agent you would think they were legit.”

Jernigan said that this recent contact felt off, so he began checking about the property on Farrar Hill Road. He contacted a tenant that rents from the property owner who doubted that the family would be selling any of their property. Tracking down the real owners, Jernigan found they knew nothing of what was being done in their name.

The way the scam often works is the unsuspecting realtor would list the property with the caveat they not place a sign in the yard. An online purchaser from out of town could proceed with buying the land.

Jernigan warned that the money the buyer spends on the purchase would be gone with the unsuspecting landowner facing expensive legal fees to reclaim their property.

The realtor recalls another case that went further last year when a person listing a Readyville property took the first offer the day after it was posted, despite it being $80,000 under the listing price.

Sensing something was wrong, Jernigan began asking for a description of the seller, who turned out to be six-foot five, 280 pound retired FBI agent. The purported seller, however, was a petite Asian man.

“Same name, he even had a fake driver’s license,” Jernigan said. “I can see if people are not paying attention…I would hate to see something like that happen.”

Jernigan also cautioned homeowners not to get taken in by “postcard” offers to purchase their property for half of what it’s worth.

Jernigan said he got a call from an out of state buyer looking to sell a local elderly man’s property that was purchased for $100,000 less than what it was worth.

Deed fraud or home title theft describes schemes involves forging documents to record a phony transfer of property ownership. Criminals can then sell the home, take out a mortgage on it, or even rent it out to tenants to turn a profit.

One protection offered by the Register of Deeds office is a fraud alert system that can be set up to alert property owners to notify them if a document bearing their name is registered.

Additional steps include routine checks of your credit reports and your utility bills that can help uncover deed fraud. If one of your utility bills or your property tax bills stop arriving in the usual manner, it may be an indication that someone has changed the filling address.

Go to www.coffeecoun tyregisterofdeeds.com to register in the fraud alert system.