Beware deed scam this time of year
They’re back! Every year around this time, the Lake County Recorder’s Office is flooded with phone calls inquiring about a letter they received in the mail regarding the deed to their home.
The true purpose of the letter is to get you to spend your hard-earned money and it’s a scam.
Now there are two companies in the scamming business. I urge you to be careful. Please be on the lookout for solicitations from Illinois Deed Providers or Deed Retrieval Services.
These companies are contacting Lake County homeowners in an effort to provide you with a certified copy of the deed to your home for a mere payment of $99 plus $4.50 for postage and handling.
There may come a time when you do need to reference the deed to your home. As often happens, people misplace their deeds or in some instances, never actually received the original deed at the time they purchased their home.
For your protection, all requests for copies of deeds should be handled directly through the recorder’s office.
The average deed is four pages or less, with a copy fee of only $1 per page. As you can see, these fake businesses are roughly making a $95 profit on every request they handle.
As the keeper of the property records for all of Lake County, I do not want to see anyone needlessly harmed by these deceptive offers. I encourage anyone with a question, concern or need for a copy to contact my office directly at 847-377-2575.
We will be happy to send you whatever paperwork you need, at the statutory cost, without any handling or postage fees.
Mary Ellen Vanderventer
Lake County Recorder
Waukegan