Equity Skimming Foreclosure Rescue Scams

This post provides a list of a number of links to articles available on the Internet on foreclosure rescue scams involving the equity skimming of homes by the foreclosure rescue operator.

The Equity Skimmers

The "equity skimmers" are those who convince the homeowner to sign over their home, promising them that they will pay off the existing mortgage, and then proceed to either (A) rent out the property and pocket the rental proceeds and tenant security deposits, or (B) resell the property on an installment payment "land contract" (aka installment sale contract, contract for deed, etc.) and pocket the monthly payments received from his/her buyer. In either case, the operator fails making the existing house payments until the mortgage lender ultimately takes ownership of the property after a foreclosure sale.

See, for example:

.

1) Lyndhurst, N.J., Men Get Sentenced for Defrauding Homeowners in Mortgage Scam (New Jersey)

.

2) Cox Takes Legal Action Against Company Engaged in Home Equity Stripping (Michigan)

.

3) Court Records: Men Failed To Pay For 22 Homes Over 12 Years (Indiana) Click here for Call For 6 TV report

.

4) Long Island Couple Lose Home, "Skimmer" Convicted (New York)

.

5) Accused Equity Skimmer Commits Suicide; Attorney's Law License Suspended

.

Combination of Equity Skimming with Charging Upfront Fee

,

Some operators have actually combined a form of "equity skimming" with the "upfront fee" approach where the operator both charges a homeowner facing foreclosure an upfront fee, and they also convince the homeowner to remit monthly payments to them under the false pretense that those monies are being applied to a "payment plan" designed to cure or reinstate a defaulted mortgage (without the need to actually talk the homeowner into signing over the title to their home). In some of the cases listed below, the operators actually filed multiple, false bankruptcy petitions in the Federal Bankruptcy Court for the purpose of stalling the ultimate foreclosure sale so that the operator can continue collecting the monthly payments from the homeowners for as long as possible.

.

See, for example:

.

1) Detroit Man Gets 3 Years in Foreclosure Scam (Michigan), which also involved the abuse of the Federal Bankruptcy Court system.

.

2) Press Release - U.S. Attorney, (S.D. California), another bankruptcy fraud case.

.

3) Springboro Man Indicted In "Operation Truth Or Consequences" National Action Bankruptcy Fraud (Ohio), also involved bankruptcy fraud.

.

4) Mortgage Scam Puts Dozens of Dallas Homeowners on the Streets (Texas)

.