State Rep. Angelo Puppolo stood with Hampden County Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera to inform homeowners on protections against fraud at his “Pizza with Puppolo” event on Aug. 4.
Reminder Publishing photo by Peter Tuohy
WILBRAHAM — A special edition of “Pizza with Puppolo” with state Rep. Angelo Puppolo, alongside Hampden County Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, informed homeowners of title fraud preventions, deed theft and resources available to protect property ownership at the Wilbraham Senior Center on Aug. 4.
“Pizza with Puppolo” is a regular event where residents have the opportunity to speak with Puppolo while he discusses legislative events during a pizza lunch. Alongside a few different types of pizza, residents also received a complimentary copy of their property deed.
Puppolo told Reminder Publishing the presentation covered how to “protect the biggest asset that people have, their homes.”
He said people don’t realize that something has happened until it’s too late, so the event is designed to take preventative measures so that people are aware of the protections available to them.
“There’s a lot of concern about title fraud, about deed fraud,” Puppolo said. “There’s a lot of issues relative to people putting liens on houses and different things that people don’t know about. What this seminar is gonna do, it’s gonna talk about how to protect yourself, how to be aware if anything goes awry and to find out what you can do if something does happen … We’re trying to make people aware of what’s out there for protection, know what to do, how to protect yourself and then you know what to do if something does happen to you.”
Puppolo said he’s passed laws to the Legislature that relate to privacy, cybersecurity and data security, and that this is an extension to those.
“There’s so many TV commercials you see that try to get you to make sure you’re aware of these types of situations, and it’s a growing problem,” Puppolo said. “Unfortunately, thieves are getting smarter and smarter. Technology is getting better and better and they’re able to recreate and do things that you weren’t able to do years ago. We need to combat that with arming the individual with the information they need … its become a growing issue and we want to nip anything in the bud, and I want to protect my residents and my constituents from any type of problem that may occur.”
Coakley-Rivera also provided residents with a handout detailing protections against property fraud. Residents can sign up for a free consumer notification system that alerts individuals when a document is recorded at hampdendeeds.com if they are concerned about potential property fraud.
