YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham said more than 200 county residents already have signed up for a system designed to prevent property transfer fraud and wants to encourage more to join the program.

“This is just the first step in our attempt to protect homeowners. The process will evolve and improve over time. A home is most people’s biggest asset. Working together with homeowners will help protect their investment,” Meacham said.

Fraudulent quitclaim transfers have become much more prevalent in recent years, Meacham said, and they offer an easy scheme for the crook and a difficult uphill battle for the homeowner to undo the damage.

“Once it’s transferred, it’s very hard and time-consuming to resolve it. The homeowner has to go hire an attorney to represent them, and these cases tend to linger in court,” he said. “It can be very difficult and expensive for homeowners to correct it. It’ll happen, but it takes time and money.”

The fraudsters search online, looking for properties that appear abandoned or show delinquent taxes.

Quitclaim deeds are most commonly used among family members who want to transfer a home from one family member to another. It’s a quick, easy process that can easily be taken advantage of, Meacham said.

“Sometimes they have a fraudulent notary public seal, or they get a bad notary, or they have fraudulent identification documents to trick the notary, so they’re becoming very elaborate in these schemes,” Meacham said.

The new program in his office was designed by Pivot Point, which provided the enhanced online software many may have noticed has been in use since December 2024.

“You see pie charts and other research applications, all of which Pivot Point provides, and I thought since they did such a great job on that, let’s see what they can do with a fraud alert system, and they’ve done a great job on it,” he said.

The new software, bought in June 2024, cost the county $25,000, or less than half the cost of their previous software. The new fraud alert system cost $15,000, but homeowners are not charged to use it.

“If it saves one home, it’s already paid for itself,” Meacham said.

Homeowners have two options and can use both. One is a strictly online program that asks for basic information and will automatically let homeowners know if someone executes a title transfer for their home. The title transfer will go through, but the homeowner, notified immediately by phone or email, will be able to respond quickly.

The second option prohibits the transfer.

“For that, you have to come into the office with a copy of the deed and proof of identification and ownership. Then, if someone comes in to try to transfer your property, it’ll be blocked until you’re notified and approve it.”

Assuming it’s a fraudulent attempt at a transfer, Meacham’s office will notify the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, which will work with the Sheriff’s Office or local police department to determine if fraud has been attempted and what the charges will be.

Meacham said similar deed protection programs advertised online can cost $50 to $60.

He said Mahoning County is currently the only county in Ohio using a system like this to provide no-cost protections to homeowners.

“I want criminals put on notice – this office will do everything in our power to prevent a

fraudulent property transfer,” Meacham said.

To subscribe to the alert, users must register on the Property Ownership Alert Subscriptions page, which can be found under the “Tools” tab of the Auditor’s website. After reading and

acknowledging the disclaimer, users will enter their email and create a password. The website host (PivotPoint) will then send a confirmation email.

Users will find answers to most questions in the FAQ section of the Property Ownership Alert info page.