# How to Protect Your Georgia Home with Free FANS Account By Ron Ross (@ronross) · Published 2026-08-20 · Updated 2026-08-21 Canonical: https://voce.com/@ronross/protect-georgia-home-fans-3oiy7y --- A criminal can forge your name on a deed, file it with the county clerk, and — on paper — walk away owning your home. Property title fraud happens fast and quietly, and Georgia homeowners have a free, government-backed answer for it. Think of FANS as a **smoke alarm for your home's title**: it does not stop the fire, but it wakes you up the second something goes wrong. Here's what it does, why it matters, and how to sign up in about ten minutes. #### Key Takeaways - FANS is a free, opt-in alert system for Georgia property owners - It emails or texts you whenever a document is filed against your name or property - FANS does not stop fraud — it warns you early so you can act fast - You can cover every Georgia county or just the ones you own property in - Signing up takes about ten minutes with just your name, email, or phone number ## What is Title Fraud and Why Does It Happen? Title fraud — also called deed fraud or title theft — is when a scammer uses your identity and forged papers to put your property in their name. Your home's title is the legal record that shows you own the house, and a criminal can create a fake deed that names them as the owner instead. Once they do, they may try to sell the home, rent it out, or take out a loan against it. It is your single biggest asset, and it is being moved without your knowledge. The scam starts with identity theft. Once a thief has your personal details, they forge documents that county recording offices may accept as real. State and local records staff record paperwork to keep the official roll accurate, but they are not investigators who check every signature or confirm every sale with the homeowner. That gap is exactly what fraudsters count on. Fraud tends to target homes that get little daily attention — vacant lots, rental properties, and paid-off houses whose owners are not watching closely. Georgia has seen a documented rise in forged deed filings, and this gap in oversight is exactly why a free alert system like FANS matters. ## What Exactly Is FANS? The Filing Activity Notification System — **FANS** for short — is a free service from the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA), the state agency that runs records systems for Georgia's clerks of court. It announced the service in January 2023 as a consumer-friendly way to warn property owners whenever paperwork is filed against their property. You opt in with your email or a phone number, and the system watches the county records you choose. Whenever a document that matches your notification criteria is filed, indexed, and transmitted by a Clerk of Superior Court, FANS sends you a message — by email or text. That includes things like real estate **deeds**, **liens**, **plats**, and certain personal property records. The system reads the official county index, so the alert arrives based on the exact filing data the clerk records. It is free, voluntary, and open to any Georgia resident. ## Why FANS Matters: Turning Alerts Into Action FANS does not stop fraud on its own — no alert system can tear up a forged deed. What it does is give you the one thing that defeats scammers in property fraud: **early notice**. Think of it like a security camera for your property name — once it is on, you barely have to think about it. Rather than finding out years later, at closing or when a stranger claims to own your house, you learn about a suspicious filing the moment it hits the county records. That early warning is what lets you contact the clerk, dispute the document, and call your attorney while the problem is still fresh. ## Step 1: Go to the FANS Portal Open your browser and go to the official FANS website at [**fans.gsccca.org**](https://fans.gsccca.org). This is the state's own portal, run by the GSCCCA — not a paid third-party service. You will see a landing page titled "Welcome to the Filing Activity Notification System" with a **Login** button to get started. **Success check:** You should be looking at the official FANS page with the Login link visible and the FANS welcome message showing on screen. ## Step 2: Create Your Account Click **Login here** and follow the prompts to create an account. You sign up with your **name and a working email address or phone number** — that is where FANS will send your alerts. Use the contact method you actually check, because a missed alert is a missed warning. **Success check:** You should have an active account and be able to see the dashboard where you will set up your notifications. ## Step 3: Set Your Notification Criteria Now you tell FANS what to watch. Enter the **names you want monitored** — your full name, your spouse's name, and the names of any co-owners or business entities on your property. If you own a home through a trust or an LLC, enter that exact legal name, spelled just as it appears on your deed — that is what the clerk's index will carry. You can also pick which **counties** to cover: every county in Georgia, or only the ones where you own land. If your name is common, narrowing to your home county cuts down on noise from unrelated people with the same name. **Success check:** You should have saved at least one name (and one or more counties) and can see your criteria listed on your dashboard. ## Step 4: Watch for Your Alerts Once your criteria are saved, FANS works in the background. Whenever a deed, lien, plat, or covered personal property record matching your criteria is filed and indexed by the clerk, you will get a notification. It is not a one-time setup — you should check your email or texts and review any filing that looks unexpected. A legitimate filing for a refinance or a new deed will also trigger an alert, so look at every notification to confirm you recognize it. **Success check:** You have received (or can expect) your first alert, and you have a plan to act on anything suspicious by calling the clerk's office or your attorney. ?Frequently Asked Questions3 questions 1Will FANS catch fraud that happened before I signed up? FANS can only warn you about filings that came in after you set up your notification request. If a fake deed was recorded before you registered, it will not trigger an alert — so the sooner you sign up, the sooner you build protection. 2Can I rely on FANS to catch every filing? Yes. The system relies on the index data entered by each county clerk after a document is filed, so a notification can be delayed or missed entirely if the clerk's data lags. Treat FANS as a helpful early-warning layer, not a guarantee — check unusual mail and review your property records periodically too. 3What should I do if I get an alert I did not expect? Contact the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the filing was made right away, and consider calling a Georgia real estate attorney. The longer a forged deed sits unchallenged, the harder it can be to unwind, so speed matters. ## The Bottom Line Title fraud is rare but real, and most of the damage happens because owners never find out until it is too late. [**FANS**](https://fans.gsccca.org/) **gives every Georgia homeowner a genuine early-warning system for free.** In about ten minutes you can register, set a name and the counties you own in, and hand a hard problem over to automation. Combined with checking your mail and knowing what should be in your county records, it is one of the easiest and cheapest layers of protection you will ever add to the place you call home. ## Get Ready to Sign Up Fraudsters tend to go after homes that get little daily attention — vacant lots, rental properties, and paid-off houses whose owners are not watching closely. That is precisely why Georgia's clerks of court built FANS: a free early-warning system designed to catch suspicious filings before they turn into stolen property.