Alliant National Agents’ 2022 Fraud-Busting Efforts Capped Off By Coffelt Title’s Impressive Crime Watch Trifecta
As the country’s leading independent title insurance underwriter for the independent title agent, Alliant National has a responsibility to help confront the growing threat of fraud in our industry. One way we do this is through our Crime Watch program, which incentivizes agencies to report instances of fraud that they encounter. As part of the program, firms that prevent a fraudulent transaction that was to be insured by Alliant National may be eligible to receive a reward of $1,000.
Coffelt Title – An Active Partner In Fraud Detection
Coffelt Land Title, Inc., a title insurance agency that does business throughout Missouri and Kansas, recently detected three instances of fraud, and submitted them to Alliant National for award consideration.
Jessica Wackerman, who works at Coffelt as a title searcher and examiner, noticed a potentially fraudulent transaction while examining a series of files on three properties involving one buyer. “Looking at all of them together, I noticed some issues with the deeds as far as the same formatting, the spelling of grantor and grantee names, as well as notary names,” she said. “I then did some digging and found lots of issues – such as finding death information on one individual.” After noticing this and collecting the requisite information, she quickly notified her contact at Alliant National and sent in copies of the deeds and commitments.
Taken together, these various properties represented a potential fraud amount of nearly $20,000, pointing to the importance of vigilance when it comes to detecting and reporting fraud. As Jessica explains: “Alliant National’s Crime Watch program is a great thing for the agents and underwriter. It protects everyone, but it also ensures that the agents are looking into anything that might seem a little suspicious. The incentive is a nice reward for doing the research to produce all the information.”
Of course, no single program can entirely prevent or mitigate a problem as endemic as real estate fraud, which is why agencies must take other steps to protect themselves and the customers they serve. Coffelt Title itself has taken that idea to heart, investing in staff training and education to help employees catch fraud before it is too late.
Alliant National Is Making A Difference In Fraud Prevention
“I think all title companies need to be more aware of the fraud that is happening in their markets. They should not act under the assumption that it won’t happen to them or their customers,” said Jessica when asked about fraud in the title industry.
We couldn’t agree more, which is why Alliant National launched the Crime Watch program in the first place. Over the past year, we have seen the program pay off in spades. In 2022, Alliant National agents, through this program, collectively reported to us 12 instances of attempted fraud, totaling a potential liability amount of $1.8 million. In recognition of these agent sleuths, we have issued $12,000 in awards. We’re proud of our agents’ efforts to combat this systemic problem in the industry and, as this year draws to a close, would like to thank the following Crime Watch award recipients for making title insurance a safer and more sustainable field:
- Siesta Title Escrow and Services LLC | FL | Amanda Pertuch
- Title Professionals of Florida (TPF) | FL | David D. Lanaux
- Alliance Nationwide Title Agency, LLC | MO | Daniel Onwiler
- Alliance Nationwide Title Agency, LLC | KS | Ben Chapman
- Siesta Title Escrow and Services LLC | FL | Claire Hooper
- Coastal Title Services | FL | Brianna Steel
- Legacy Title & Escrow, LLC | FL | Kathy Morgan
- Caldwell County Abstract and Title Company, LLC | MO | Megan Eitel and Amanda McGinley
- Sunrise Title Services | FL | Adaliz Alvarez
- Coffelt Land Title, Inc. | MO | Jessica Wackerman
- Coffelt Land Title, Inc. | MO | Jessica Wackerman
- Coffelt Land Title, Inc. | MO | Jessica Wackerman
- First International Title | FL | Natia Johnson
Learn more about Alliant National’s Crime Watch program
Tags: crime, crime watch, fraud, Kansas, missouri, robertsmith