 Welcome to In This Studio. My name is Kevin Clark and I will be the host for today's show. Today we're specifically going to be discussing the Yolo County District Attorney's Office Fraud Division and the real estate fraud program which is housed within the Fraud Division. Joining me for today, for today's show is Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Melinda Aiello as well as DA Investigator Christine Fitzgerald. Let's start with you Melinda. Hi Kevin. Hi. Can you please share with the audience how the DA's office combats fraud and the different fraud divisions we have? Sure. So our white collar crime division has five branches. We combat workers' compensation fraud, auto insurance fraud. We have an elder protection unit. We also have an environmental and consumer fraud protection unit as well as a real estate fraud unit. Okay. Thank you. You know, during the summer, Christine, it is the height of the real estate market. People are buying and selling. Kids are out of school. So you're seeing a lot more transactions when it comes to real estate. And what I wanted to know is what is the DA's office scene as far as how many cases and the type of cases they're seeing and things, you know, we're going to move towards things we can warn the public about the City of Davis specifically as they're going to be doing these transactions during the summer. Sure. So typically on a yearly basis, the District Attorney's Office, we receive approximately 30 cases a year. Each one of those cases that we receive, we look at them, one to make sure that it's actually a criminal case. And then if that case is something that we're able to move forward with. And so I would say that the way that our cases, our referrals are generated to us through our fraud hotline. People can fill out a complaint form online on our website. Also, we receive referrals through internally. So say somebody is working another case and there may be an aspect of real estate fraud. They'll contact our unit and we'll take a look at that to see if that's something that we can move forward with. We also receive quite a few of our referrals through the agencies that we collaborate with on a daily basis. Adult protective services, Northern legal services of Northern California, our local law enforcement agencies. So there's a variety of ways that we receive them. But like I said, typically we receive about 30 cases a year. Okay. Thank you. And Melinda, what types of real estate fraud cases are we receiving? We have the 30 cases we're receiving. We get them from different agencies or from the public. What's the variety? What kind of cases are we looking at? So we typically see either caretakers or family members that will give seniors documents to sign. And those seniors don't realize they've just signed over their homes. We will also see either a mortgage or a line of credit taken out in a senior's name or on their home. We also see the use of electronic signature, which is basically forging that individual's names. We will also see the filing of false documents. The Yolo County Recorders Office will accept any type of recording document as long as it's completely filled out. So we do recommend that people check their property, their deeds once or twice a year to make sure that there's nothing fraudulently filed against their home. Okay. And as a follow-up, why in particular is the senior population so vulnerable? You know, it's something that we see. It's an elder protection. We want to protect them and what's going on. But why do we see that being an issue with people trying to perpetrate this fraud against them? Oftentimes seniors are just a very trusting group of individuals. You may also have, you know, the onset of certain, you know, medical issues, dementia, lack of capacity. And so that also lends them to be a more vulnerable group. And so, and because they may be trusting and or perhaps slipping a little bit, then someone like a caretaker or a family member can just kind of sweep in and take advantage of that. Yeah, they could say, for instance, here, just sign these documents. This is for this other thing. Or we're doing a refinance or don't worry if you just click send, it's your signature. Correct. And so don't worry it'll all be there. And then they call us up and say, I'm not the owner of my house anymore. Right. And Chris, what are the types of real estate fraud exist that we see coming through our office? So I think one of the biggest things that we're seeing right now is wire transfer fraud. And so typically what will happen right about the time of close of property, what these people are doing, the suspects or the fraudsters, is they're hacking into the real estate agents email or the broker their email. And then what they're doing is they're sending the individual who's purchasing or selling the home an email at the last minute saying the wire transfer information has changed, providing a phone number, different routing information. So if you are to receive one of those, make sure that you're calling your agent or the broker or the loan officer who you've been working with at the phone number that you've been contacting them at. And make sure that this is a legitimate thing because wire transfer information will not change at the last minute. So also call your bank and find out if that's an actual correct routing number. The other thing is never respond to the email. Always call. And like we said, call the phone number that you've been using because these transactions take a long time to buy and sell homes. So you've been dealing with your agent or whomever. So call them. Don't call the number that's in the email. And it's really on the rise right now because those are large sums of money that are going through these transfers. And so the fraudsters are getting that and they're intercepting that money. And once that money has been intercepted, there's not a lot that we can do to retrieve that. And it's important, like you said, to follow up with those phone numbers. If you see that different phone number or the email address that comes from looks a little strange, it's usually not right or too good to be true if it's like, oh, just do it this way. Just do it that way. You're like, that might not be what was set up through the bank or through the title company. And so just go right back to the agent you've been working with. Correct. OK. Now, Melinda, how is the DA's office dealing with these type of cases? How they're charging it? What are the consequences for these perpetrators and suspects that are trying to commit this fraud? So there are a number of penal code sections that we can charge. One of those is Penal Code Section 115, which is filing of a fraudulent document. That is a felony. We can also charge things like that from an elder forgery if we can show that the documents were in fact forged. And those charges are felonies. As part of a sentence, we can get restitution for the losses that an individual suffered. And it can come with jail or prison time. OK. And Chris, what are some of the tips for our audience to avoid victimization? Melinda just spoke about what we can do. But that's after the fact. We want to see if we can get information out to the city of Davis before anything happens, anything bad happens. So to prevent them from becoming victims, how can they protect themselves and be vigilant? I think if anybody has ever purchased or sold a home, you know that there's a lot of paperwork involved. And so, you know, we say make sure that you're reading everything that you're signing. It's a lot of paperwork, and we know it's going to take a lot of time. But make sure that you know or you have somebody with you that you trust who will help you with that paperwork. But make sure you're reading all those documents. And if somebody says, oh, don't worry about it, just go ahead and sign. You know, probably take your time and even if you need to say, you know what, I'll be right back. And make a phone call, you know, call the district attorney's office and talk to one of us. Maybe we can give you some guidance. And again, like you touched on earlier, if it seems too good to be true, you know, it probably is. And the other thing is, you know, if somebody says they're going to meet you, let's say at a coffee house or at a restaurant, make sure that you don't engage in that type of activity because there may be something suspicious about that. Most professionals are going to ask you to come to their office. So make sure that you're doing that and, you know, just be aware of those types of things. Yeah, so they say, hey, let's go grab a cup of coffee. We can review the documents there. And you say to them, you know, I'd prefer to meet you at your office and you get to kind of see what it looks like and see all the other people around. And they're not willing to do that. That's probably a red flag then, right? Correct. Absolutely. I mean, most of these people are professionals in the industry. So again, you know, make sure that you're meeting them at their office. And, you know, one last thing is make sure you're not doing any of these real estate transactions with cash. Make sure that it's some way that we can trace the money, you know, whether it be, you know, a wire transfer or some type of cashier's check or money order or something. You know, never do anything with cash. Yeah, and that's really important. One, you want a receipt of what you've been doing. And two, it really helps when we're looking into a case as well because that receipt of transaction is evidence whereas a cash exchange, you don't see any documentation. Correct. Correct. And Chris, how can our community report this type of, you know, suspected real estate fraud when they have an inquiry, a suspicion, you know, they're suspecting something isn't right? How can they do that? Sure. So like I touched on earlier, you can go onto our website and there is a complaint form there that you can fill out and then we will contact you in regard to the complaint form that you submitted online. You can also call our fraud hotline. You can also call the main office and just ask to speak to somebody in the real estate fraud division and they'll transfer you. Okay. And Melinda, do you have any parting thoughts or comments that you'd like to share with the audience as we close? Absolutely. First of all, it's a pleasure to be here to be able to talk about our fraud unit and reach out to the community of Davis. But we want people to be aware that this is what's going on. We want people to be prepared to respond to anything that's unusual. We want to keep our community safe. Very good. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you so much. And in closing, thank you so much for watching. And if you want any more information, you could go to www.yoloda.org or you can call the fraud hotline at 1-855-496-5632. Thank you.