EDGEBROOK — Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th) will join county officials Monday to host a seminar to help homeowners avoid becoming victims of fraud.
Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough and Jim Lynch from the Cook County States Attorney's Office are scheduled to attend the seminar from 6-7:30 p.m. Monday at the Edgebrook branch of the Chicago Public Library, 5331 W. Devon Ave.
In October, a team of police officers removed a man and two children living in the home at 4200 W. Rosemont Ave. in Sauganash after residents complained they were living there illegally and had threatened neighbors who questioned them.
In an email to 39th Ward residents, Laurino said removing the people living in the house illegally was complicated by the fact that they had filed a deed with county officials claiming possession of the foreclosed house.
The Sauganash home was one of more than a dozen homes scattered throughout the city that have been taken over by people with no legal right to be there, creating a nuisance to those living near about 55,000 vacant, abandoned homes in Cook County, officials said.
Yarbrough's office offers a free fraud alert service notifies property owners when someone attempts to change the owner listed on the home's deed, according to her website.
The FBI says property and mortgage fraud has become the fastest-growing white-collar crime.
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