Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond's Free Property Fraud Alert: How to Protect Your Home's Title

Here is something most homeowners never think about: anyone can walk into a recording office, or upload a document online, and record a deed with your name on it. If the paperwork is formatted correctly and the fees are paid, it goes into the public record. The office that records it is not allowed to say no.

Most people find out only when they try to sell or refinance, when the title search turns up a deed, mortgage, or lien they never signed. By then the damage can take months and an attorney to undo.

Orange County has a free fix for the "finding out" part, and it comes from Comptroller Phil Diamond's office. It is one of the easiest things I can recommend to anyone who owns property in Orange County.

Who is Phil Diamond?

Phil Diamond, CPA, is the elected Orange County Comptroller. He was sworn into office on January 3, 2017. Before that he spent ten years as an Orlando City Commissioner (2002 to 2012), including two stints as Mayor Pro Tem. By trade he is a CPA and a tax attorney, with an accounting degree and a law degree from the University of Florida, and he has lived in Orange County for more than thirty years.

The Comptroller is the county's independent financial watchdog. According to the Comptroller's office, the job covers five roles: chief financial officer, county auditor, Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, custodian of county funds and records, and recorder of official records.

If you follow local news you have probably seen his office's audit work. In 2025 a Comptroller audit found that Visit Orlando had misclassified tourist tax dollars, which led to a reimbursement and a tighter contract, and another audit uncovered a parking employee who diverted about $57,000 in fees at the Orange County Convention Center. His office also reports the county's monthly tourist tax collections.

For homeowners, though, the role that matters most is the last one on that list. In many Florida counties the Clerk of Court records deeds. In Orange County, the Comptroller does. Every deed, mortgage, lien, and satisfaction recorded in Orange County goes through Phil Diamond's Official Records Department.

Why fake deeds get recorded

The Comptroller's own FAQ is blunt about it: the office "must record all documents that meet the requirements outlined in the Florida Statutes." The recording office checks the form of the document, not whether the person who signed it actually owns the property.

That is how deed fraud works. Someone creates a deed transferring your home to themselves or to a shell company, gets it notarized (sometimes with a fake notary stamp), and records it. Then they try to sell the property or borrow against it. The properties targeted most often are the ones where nobody is watching closely:

• Vacant lots and land
• Rental homes owned by out-of-town landlords
• Homes owned free and clear, with no lender keeping an eye on the title
• Homes owned by elderly owners, or homes in an estate after someone passes away
• Second homes and vacation homes in the Disney and Lake Buena Vista area

The common thread is that most owners never look at their county records unless they are selling or refinancing. By then the fraud may be months or years old.

What Property Fraud Alert does

In March 2018, Diamond's office rolled out Property Fraud Alert, a free program that monitors documents recorded in Orange County's Official Records. It is still running today.

You register a name. Any time a document with that name on it is recorded in Orange County, such as a deed, mortgage, or lien, you get an alert by email or phone. Florida law requires the notice to go out within 24 hours of recording, and the email includes a direct link to the recorded document so you can see exactly what was filed.

The service runs on propertyfraudalert.com, a site operated by Fidlar Technologies in partnership with the Comptroller. The Comptroller's homepage links straight to it as the official sign-up. A few things worth knowing:

• It is free. No fee to sign up, no fee per alert.
• It is name-based. You do not need a parcel number or any documents, just a first and last name and an email address or phone number.
• You do not have to own property in Orange County to sign up. If a document gets recorded in your name, you will hear about it.
• Your sign-up info is private. The site says it will never resell your information, and Florida Statute 28.47 exempts the emails, phone numbers, and business names you register from public records requests.

Several other Florida counties use the same propertyfraudalert.com system, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Volusia, Sumter, and Duval.

How to sign up in about two minutes

1. Go to propertyfraudalert.com/FLOrange, or call 800-728-3858 if you would rather sign up by phone.
2. Click Continue.
3. Choose whether you are monitoring a person's name or a business name.
4. Enter the name.
5. Enter the email address or phone number where you want alerts sent. If you use email, watch for a confirmation message.
6. Repeat for every other name you want watched.

To change or cancel a subscription later, call the same 800 number.

Which names to register

This is where most people sign up halfway. Register every version of every name that could show up on a document tied to your property:

• Your name with and without your middle name. The Comptroller's FAQ specifically recommends entering both.
• Your spouse's name. Florida homestead property usually needs both spouses on the paperwork.
• Any LLC, corporation, or trust that holds title. If your rental is owned by "Smith Family Holdings LLC," a fraudster will forge a deed from the LLC, not from you. Register the business name exactly as it appears on your deed.
• Your parents or grandparents, especially if they own a home free and clear. Older owners are a favorite target, and they are the least likely to be checking public records.
• A family member who recently passed away, if their home is still titled in their name while the estate is being settled.

If you have a common name, expect some alerts that have nothing to do with you. The system matches names only, so a "John Smith" will hear about every John Smith. Click through, glance at the document, and move on. That is a small price for the warning.

What to do if you get an alert

Most alerts will be boring: your own refinance, a mortgage satisfaction after you pay off a loan, or someone with the same name buying a condo. When one is not boring:

1. Open the document from the link in the alert and read it. Who is the grantor, who is the grantee, and what property does it describe?
2. Call the Comptroller's Recording Department at 407-836-5115 if you have questions about the document.
3. Report it to law enforcement. In unincorporated Orange County that is the Orange County Sheriff's Office; inside a city, start with that city's police department.
4. Call a real estate attorney. A fraudulent deed in the public record usually takes a legal filing to clear, and the sooner it starts, the less chance someone sells or mortgages your home in the meantime.
5. Call your title insurer if you have an owner's policy. Forged deeds are one of the risks an owner's policy exists to cover. If you are not sure what yours covers, I walk through it in Florida title insurance explained.

If you own property outside Orange County

The Orange County alert only watches Orange County's Official Records. If you own a home in Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Polk, or anywhere else in Florida, you need to sign up with that county too.

The good news is every county now has one. Florida Statute 28.47 required every clerk to launch a free recording notification service by July 1, 2024, and as of January 2025, all 67 Florida counties offer free property alerts. The Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers association keeps the full list of sign-up links at flclerks.com/PropertyAlertServices. Some counties use propertyfraudalert.com and some use a different vendor, so use that list rather than guessing.

My take as a broker

Title fraud is not just a headline problem. Title searches turn up forged and questionable documents more often than most sellers would guess, and the cleanup always lands on the owner. Your title is the most valuable thing you own that you probably never look at.

Phil Diamond's office built a free early warning system for it. It takes two minutes, costs nothing, and you will probably forget about it until the day it matters. Sign up your own name, then do it for your parents.

If you are thinking about selling and want to know what your Orange County home is worth today, you can get an instant home value estimate or contact me directly. And if an alert ever turns up something strange on a property you own, call me. I am happy to look at the document with you and point you to the right people.