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Fresno County official urges Selma homeowners to enroll in free title-alert service
Summary
A deputy from the Fresno County Assessor-Recorder's office briefed the Selma City Council on the Property Owner Protection Alert (POPA), a free monitoring service that notifies owners when documents are recorded against their property or name.
A deputy recorder from the Fresno County Assessor-Recorder's office urged Selma homeowners on Oct. 21 to sign up for the county's free Property Owner Protection Alert (POPA) service, which emails property owners when a document is recorded against their name or parcel.
"Anytime a document is recorded with either your APN number, your assessor's parcel number, or against your name, you'll receive an email notification," said Manjit Daliwal, deputy recorder and business manager, representing the Fresno County Assessor-Recorder's office. Daliwal said the service is free through the county, takes about five minutes to enroll and is intended to help homeowners detect deed fraud, often called title theft or deed theft.
Daliwal told the council that while title fraud is among the fastest-growing financial crimes nationwide, Fresno County has seen relatively few incidents so far. The office's POPA program has about 3,200 accounts; Daliwal noted the county contains roughly 300,000 parcels and more than 150,000 property owners, meaning many owners have not yet enrolled. He described common fraud patterns, including forged notary stamps, scanned documents and schemes that target free-and-clear properties or secondary residences because they are less likely to be monitored by mortgage lenders.
When asked about remedies for victims, Daliwal said the county works with the Fresno County District Attorney's real estate fraud unit and provided a form required by that office to initiate an investigation. "Report it as soon as possible...The faster you take action, the faster you're probably able to save your property," he said.
City staff and the communications department agreed to post a direct link and multilingual materials on the city's website. The communications director told the council the link is live on the city's news page and staff would help residents sign up.
Why it matters: POPA provides an early warning for document recording activity that can signal title fraud. Enrollment is a low-cost (time) protective step for homeowners; the DA's office remains the path for criminal investigation and remediation.
Practical takeaways: Selma residents can sign up on the Fresno County Assessor-Recorder website via a posted link; county staff said Spanish translations are available on the recorder's site and Punjabi translations are under consideration.
