By Dominique ROCHA

On Tuesday, residents of the Sunland-Tujunga area met with local law enforcement for this month’s Tacos with Cops meeting. 

As usual, the meeting was held at Joselito’s Mexican Food in Tujunga. This time, Senior Lead Officer Gloria Caloca was joined by special guest speakers Detective Christy Adriano and Brian Calicchia, who talked with residents about fraud. 

Detective Calicchia kicked off the meeting by speaking about real estate fraud. 

“Real estate fraud is not very common, but it’s not uncommon either,” Calicchia said. 

Calicchia told residents how to protect themselves against this type of fraud. These included looking out for neighbors and their properties, monitoring property titles, having multiple people on a title and creating a trust. 

Calicchia reminded residents there is no such thing as ‘locking a title.” Property owners can monitor their titles themselves by visiting the Office of the County Recorder. 

“A lot of people who conduct real estate fraud are looking for an easy target,” Calicchia said. “They’re not interested in the property itself but the equity and the money.” 

Properties with “roadblocks,” such as mortgages and HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) loans, tend to be less attractive to fraudsters as they require more effort to work around. 

While there is no way to fully prevent this type of fraud, Calicchia said taking these measures can help deter fraud.

“Essentially, it’s not very hard to accomplish real estate fraud and it could be very lucrative,” Calicchia said. 

Detective Adriano spoke next and informed residents on scams, elder abuse frauds and identity theft. 

Adriano mentioned a few ways residents can protect themselves from scams. Ignoring calls from unknown numbers, creating a sound will and trust and, if possible, locking credit are some of the ways to protect against scams and fraud. 

“We see a lot of horrendous stuff where people lose a lot of money,” Adriano said. 

Email, text and call scams are some of the more popular ways scammers try to solicit money. 

“Just hang up and do not even entertain the idea,” Adriano advised. 

Adriano also stressed the importance of sitting down with family members, especially the elderly, and talking to them about scams. 

Calicchia wrapped up the meeting by providing residents with updates on local encampments, taking questions and reminding residents to report vacant lots they might see.

“If you have any empty properties, let me know so I can get things going,” Calicchia said. 

The meeting concluded with Calicchia reminding residents to stay vigilant and to keep reporting any crime they witness.