Eight Wilmington Lions attended the recent Port Williams Lions Club meeting at which Clinton County Recorder Brenda Huff presented a program dealing with property fraud.

Attendees were given examples of how property owners had their property stolen from them, in several ways, without their knowledge until after thousands of dollars were lost and requiring expensive legal action to recover their property.

In some cases, stolen or damaged items could not be replaced. In addition to our personal identification being stolen, we are also at risk of losing our homes.

She said Clinton County has a software program from Fidlar Technologies that it uses for recording property titles. A part of this company’s program includes property owner notification whenever a title is changed or a lien attached to the property.

The property owner is notified by e-mail or text of a change, after your property information is entered on the company’s website.

This notification is free of charge to Clinton County property owners, as the costs are absorbed by the county.

The procedure is simple: go to www.propertyfraudalert.com and fill in the information.

The Property Fraud Alert Hotline is 1-800-728-3858.

Contact Clinton County Recorders Office 937-382-2067 with questions.

If you reside outside Clinton County, you would need to contact that county’s recorder to question if your county offers a similar notification program.