Georgetown puts safeguards in place to protect homeowners from scammers
GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD)– Leaders in Georgetown County are rolling out new software to monitor property scammers and stop them in their tracks.
Real estate and mortgage fraud is rising in the palmetto state. According to the Department of Consumer Affairs, South Carolinians reported losing millions of dollars to real estate scams in 2023.
“Sometimes, people can file fraudulent documents, and what this software program does is an alert you if someone comes in and files a fraudulent document in your name or any name that you put in the system,” said Walt Ackerman, the director of administrative services for Georgetown County.
The security solution flags fraudulent listings of fundamental properties. One real estate business owner said it is a common tactic for scammers.
“We do have people calling our office and asking if we have properties online that are for rent, and they’ll send them to me through Facebook messenger, and I’ll let them know that, no, I did not post that they will go on different real estate websites like realtor.com and Zillow and they will take my listing in my pictures and relist them as the property at a cheaper rate,” said Victoria Culbertson a Realtor Property Manager at Going Coastal Realty.
The security software program is free to homeowners but only available for Georgetown County residents. Leaders said they started the program two weeks ago and anticipate that more people will sign up soon.
“What my hope would be was that every property owner in Georgetown County would register in every variation of a name that you can think of so that if everybody is alerted and protected, then there’s no need for these scammers to try to perpetrate some crime because this is a crime in our county,” said Ackerman.
For more information and to sign up for the security solution service, click the link below.
