County offices warn of information scam

The Citrus County offices of property appraiser and clerk of courts issued a joint statement today warning of a mail scam involving a Tallahassee-based company that seeks to charge for county information that is already offered for free.

Betty Strifler, Citrus County Clerk of Courts, and Geoffrey Greene, Citrus County Property Appraiser, are alerting residents to be cautious in responding to offers received by mail that offer services for a fee.

The property appraiser's office was recently contacted by a resident who had received a mailing from the company, “Record Retrieval,” offering to retrieve copies of deeds or other records of title for a fee of up to $87.

The information the Tallahassee company wants to charge for is already free of charge directly from the web sites of the property appraiser and clerk of courts.

In addition, both county offices also provide customer service staff, who are more than willing to assist the public in retrieving such documents, the property appraiser's office said. If a member of the public does not have computer access, copies of such public record documents can be obtained directly from either local government office for at most a nominal photocopying fee for paper copies. Such fees are far less than the fees stated in the solicitation mailer.

Strifler and Greene advise the public to beware of such solicitation attempts by out-of-town entities, and have referred a copy of the solicitation to the Citrus County Sheriff to further determine if this is a scam or a valid service. Residents are cautioned not respond without checking out any such solicitations.

Anyone wishing further information or assistance should call Angela Vick, Chief Deputy Clerk, at the Clerk’s Office (352) 341-6480; or Avis Craig, Director of Public and Government Affairs, at the Property Appraiser’s Office (352) 795-2841.