Riverside County rolls out fraud alerts as scammers target the region's vacant land
The Riverside County District Attorney's Office and the Assessor-Clerk-Recorder's Office have launched a joint effort urging property owners to enroll in the county's free Property Fraud Alert service, which monitors land records around the clock and notifies a registered owner by email, text, or call whenever a deed, lien, or title change is recorded against their name or parcel. County officials describe a surge in fraudulent vacant-land transactions, with scammers scanning public indices to find unencumbered parcels owned by out-of-state residents or corporate trusts, then posing as the true owners and using AI-generated credentials to arrange remote electronic notarizations — listing and selling land before the real owner learns the title has been touched.
The asset profile is the whole story for an IE operator. National data backs the pattern: the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Deed & Title Fraud Survey found vacant land accounted for 62 percent of reported title-fraud cases over the prior year, against just 12 percent for owner-occupied homes. Fraudsters want high equity, no mortgage, no occupant, and an owner unlikely to notice quickly — a description that fits large stretches of Riverside and San Bernardino county desert land held as long-term investment by absentee buyers.
This is a known problem the county has been building defenses against for years, not a new one. Riverside's recorder began sending courtesy notices on recorded property documents back in 2011, and the DA's Real Estate Fraud Unit has historically fielded between 20 and 40 fraud-related calls a month. San Bernardino County runs a parallel system, mailing notices with the first pages of newly recorded deeds to the prior owner so an unauthorized transfer surfaces fast. The AI layer is what's new — not the scheme, but how convincingly and at what scale it can now be run.
For owners and the brokers, title officers, and lenders who transact for them, the takeaway is concrete: the alert systems are free and most eligible owners aren't enrolled, the monitoring catches a fraudulent recording but does not legally block it from being filed, and the warning signs on the deal side are consistent — a seller who won't appear in person, a push for a fast cash close, a below-market price on vacant land, and pressure to use a specific out-of-area notary or title company.