Don’t miss out on these fabulous Insider Deals– Micheline Boutin said she thought she had a buyer to purchase her four-bedroom, two-bath home in St. Augustine, signing what’s called an assigned contract with an investment company for a purchase price of $350,000.
“They recorded a memorandum of purchase on my title, and sent me an email, saying they clouded my title, and now you can’t see until you pay us,” Boutin said. St. Johns County Clerks of Court Brandon Patty said various kinds of property deed schemes to make money are prevalent in North Florida. Patty said St. Johns County’s Property Fraud Alert program will notify home and landowners immediately as soon as there’s been a legal recording with the Clerk of Court on their property. He said sometimes the fraud is being committed by unethical local investors or more organized crime groups overseas.