Brown Countians, take note: If you get a letter in the mail asking that you send money for a copy of your "current grant and deed and property profile," you do not have to answer it.

Brown County Recorder Sandy Cain reports that a company called Record Retrieval Department has been sending such letters to property owners in Brown and several other Indiana counties. Similar letters have been received in at least two other states.

Cain said she looked up the address listed on the letter and it belongs to a UPS store in Indianapolis. The letter notes, in fine print at the bottom, that it is not associated with any governmental agency.

It is not necessary for property owners to have a copy of their deed. But property owners who want it can get it for $1 per page from the Brown County recorder's office, Cain said -- far less than the $87 the mail-order company demands.

"There is no reason why you need to have this," Cain warned. "Don't do it. You won't get your money back."

Cain said the practice has been reported to the Better Business Bureau.

Property owners who have already sent in money to the company can file a complaint with the Indiana attorney general's Consumer Protection Division at www.indianaconsumer.com.

To see what the letter looks like, click here.