Bryan County Clerk of Courts Becky Crowe wants county residents to know about a service that could spare them a lot of headache someday.

Called FANS, an acronym for “filing activity notification system,” the free service is being offered in Bryan County by Crowe’s office in conjunction with the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority.

In a nutshell, FANS alerts property owners of potential real estate property fraud, Crowe said, by tracking real estate filings and informing participants if there is activity related to their property.

“This fraud is on the rise here in Georgia,” she said, “and I want to make property owners aware to help identify and reduce this type of fraud.”

While FANS on its own can’t prevent fraud, those who sign up for the service will be notified “should any type of filing come through the Clerk’s Office,” Crowe said, which enables property owners to investigate.

Though there are reports such “deed fraud” has occurred in metro-Atlanta in recent years, there haven’t been any instances of it in Bryan County that Crowe is aware of, she said. Yet.But there have been several counties in Georgia that have,” Crowe said. “With our county growing at such rapid speed we could begin to see some of these filings and my goal is to make as many citizens aware and to opt-in to this program as soon as they can.”

For more information on how to sign up visit https://fans.gsccca.org, call 1-800203-5174 or email help@gsccca.org.