With real estate fraud on the rise, Fresno County officials have created an ordinance and warning system to stop thieves from trying to steal your property.
Fresno County Assessor-Recorder Paul Dictos introduced the Real Property Fraud Prevention Notice, a volunteer fraud-prevention tool that lets property owners file a notice requesting title companies and notaries to verify identity before a real estate transaction is completed.
The county’s ordinance is similar to one passed by the state legislature last year that authorizes a county recorder to notify property owners by mail within 30 days of recording a deed, quitclaim deed, or deed of trust.
Barry Kriebel, a longtime Fresno County resident and former raisin industry executive, said the county’s ordinance complements the state’s effort by trying to prevent the fraud from happening, not just letting people know after the fraud was committed.
Kriebel, who served as president of Sun-Maid for 30 years, was instrumental in the creation of the ordinance.
“This is an attempt to put the world on notice that you want certain steps to happen before you do a deed transfer,” Kriebel said. “We are trying to stop things a head of time, before it gets recorded with the Recorders office.”
According to Realtor.com, real estate scammers heavily target vacant land, about 82% of all cases, but are increasingly expanding to vacation homes, rental properties, and primary residences.
Agricultural industry representatives support the new anti-fraud efforts, calling them another layer of protection.
“For farmers and other property owners, especially those who have owned property for many years or whose land has been passed down through generations, an additional fraud-prevention safeguard can be extremely valuable,” said Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League in Fresno. ”Once real property fraud occurs, the financial and legal consequences can be significant.”
Local and federal law enforcement officials say cyber criminals have become efficient at using identity theft to forge real estate-related documents.
The FBI reports that cyber criminals stole more than $275 million through real estate-related fraud from at least 12,368 victims last year, according to its Internet Crime Complaint Center report.
Those numbers are up from 2024 and 2023—which reported 9,359 complaints totaling more than $173 million in losses and 9,521 complaints totaling about $145 million.
In Fresno County, District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp told the board of supervisors recently that the office’s Real Estate Fraud Unit received 33 cases for review during the fiscal year 2025-2026.
The district attorney investigators are currently conducting 74 active investigations. That number includes new and continuing investigations from prior years as well as new and pending court cases, Smittcamp said.
The county’s new ordinance goes into effect Oct. 8.
To learn more about the state’s Property Owner’s Protection Alert visit the county’s website at https://www.fresnocountyca.gov/Departments/Recorder/Property-Owners-Protection-Alert.
The Fresno Bee
A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.