Scam Artists Arrested At Lender-Sponsored Foreclosure Avoidance Clinic Passing Themselves Off As Bank Employees

Buried in a recent story in the Los Angeles Times is this excerpt highlighting one tactic used by some fraudulent loan modification / foreclosure rescue companies to scam unwitting homeowners seeking relief from unaffordable mortgages:

• [S]ome fraudulent companies make it seem as though they represent banks or even the government.

• Evan Wagner, a spokesman for IndyMac Federal Bank, said he was disturbed to see men dressed like bank executives -- with the same blue shirts and official looking clipboards -- show up at a foreclosure avoidance clinic the bank held late last year in Riverside County and approach borrowers waiting in line. "They were clearly representing themselves as bank staff," said Wagner, noting that the men were arrested.

Source: Homeowners warned to avoid foreclosure scams (As the economy declines, more con artists are preying on Southern California borrowers in trouble).