As the number of aging Baby Boomers – many of whom are sophisticated enough to establish power-of-attorney – continues to increase, it make sense that prosecutors are seeing more cases of elder fraud, said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan.

So it’s not surprising that Hogan is applauding a new preventive initiative by Chester County Recorder of Deeds Rick Loughery to prevent the kind of abuse that has plagued other counties and robbed some senior citizens of their residences. Operation Fraud Guard initiates an enhanced review of real-estate transactions to protect the elderly and disabled persons from property fraud, according to a county press release.

“Certain real-estate transactions are red flags for possible abuse,” said Loughery in the release. “As part of this anti-fraud initiative, we are being proactive and reviewing some documents, specifically transfers of title using a power of attorney. If something appears suspicious, my office will notify landholders and law enforcement of the transactions.

“For example, if an elderly man’s property title is transferred to another person through a power of attorney, the Recorder of Deeds Office would immediately notify the gentleman of this change in title.   If the elderly gentleman responds with concerns about the change to his property title, the recorder and his staff will assist the man in contacting the district attorney and local law enforcement. Thus, a fraudulent land transfer involving an elderly citizen can be detected and prevented,” Loughery added.

Loughery said he and his staff meet regularly to discuss ways to prevent problems. He said Philadelphia has been plagued by horror stories involving elderly victims whose homes have been sold out from under them. “We want to make sure that doesn’t happen here,” he said.

Before initiating the new procedure, Loughery said he met with Hogan as well as Chester County Commissioners’ Chairman Terence Farrell, who served previously as recorder of deeds, to get their input and counsel.

“This added protection is yet another service that helps to ensure the safety of Chester County citizens, especially our elderly and disabled,” Hogan said. He added that he was also familiar with some of the gut-wrenching Philadelphia cases and eager to avoid them in Chester County.

Farrell called the Recorder of Deeds Office the first line of defense against real-estate fraud.  “As technology advances, it is important that we continue to build up our preventative measures to protect our citizens and their homes,” Farrell said in the release.

Loughery said the added measure of protection would enhance the Fraud Guard online alert service established by his office in 2012. The Fraud Guard service enables a Chester County property owner to sign up for email alerts when any document with his or her name is recorded in the Recorder of Deeds Office.

He described the email that someone would receive as deliberately bland. “We’re not sending out any personal data,” Loughery explained. “We just want people to call our office if they have any questions about the notification.”

Loughery said the online alert system is voluntary, and he urged residents to take advantage of it. To register with the Chester County Recorder of Deed’s Fraud Guard online alert service go to www.chesco.org/recorder, scroll down the left-hand column and click on Operation Fraud Guard at the bottom of the list, or call 610-344-6330.