To stop a form of deed fraud, Philadelphia has rolled out new technology that will verify if the signatory was alive at the time of the transfer of ownership.
Mayor Cherelle Parker introduced the system to the public Thursday, calling title theft a "silent crisis" affecting the city's communities.
"Thieves were stealing homes by forging deeds from deceased property owners, creating a nightmare for those families and their heirs," Parker said. "Once these fraudulent deeds are recorded, victims face costly and time-consuming legal battles to reclaim their property. … It's important to note that this crime disproportionately impacts communities of color, seniors and our most vulnerable neighborhoods."
The automated vital status verification system rapidly compares the names on documents sent to the Department of Records with death records from the Social Security Administration. If the system flags a deed as invalid due to the signee being deceased, the department will automatically reject the deed. A contestation process will be in place in case of an error with the database, and the system's findings will be used to assist law enforcement agencies in relevant investigations.
Jim Leonard, the commissioner of the city's Department of Records, said 111 cases of deed fraud were reported in 2024 and one of the city's most persistent forms of the illegal transfers has been forgeries of deceased property owners.
"Up until now, there was no automated way to easily verify whether a purported grantor was alive at the time that they supposedly signed a deed," Leonard said. "This created a significant vulnerability in our recording system."
Kimberly Esack, supervisor of the economic crimes division at the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, said plans for this system have been in the works since 2018. She described a criminal ring in which "everyone seems to know everyone else."
"They know where to go, who to go to, the notaries to get, the notary stamps to get," Esack said. "There is a literal playbook."
In April, a woman was arrested for stealing over 20 city homes, some of them from deceased homeowners. A similar case in July led to the arrest of 52-year-old Macangelo Tillman, who committed wire fraud to acquire properties from deceased owners or delinquent taxpayers.
Philadelphia has a free deed fraud protection service available for property owners to monitor whether their name has been used in a property transfer document.