Ventura County Real Estate Fraud Advisory Team, or REFAT, will premiere its new video on real estate fraud, “Predatory Practices.”
The video will be shown at REFAT’s first special forum to raise real estate fraud awareness among professionals in the real estate industry. It is one of many steps taken by Ventura County to address the growing issue of real estate fraud in the region.
“With the real estate market becoming overheated and growing perhaps too quickly, we saw a growing amount of fraud,” said Miles Weiss, the senior district attorney for the Ventura County District Attorney Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Program.
“A little over a year ago, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors authorized a statute to be activated here in Ventura County to fund a real estate fraud prosecution program…funded by the collection of a $2 levy on real estate-related documents recorded at the county clerk’s office,” Weiss said.
Since its launch in November 2005, the Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Program has already received over 65 referrals and complaints from individuals who believe they were victimized by real estate fraud.The real estate fraud prosecution unit was established to dedicate a prosecutor exclusively to real estate fraud cases.