Feds Caution Against "Fake" HUD Website

The Buffalo News reports:

• An Internet Web site that looks like a federal Housing and Urban Development operation providing financial help for homeowners facing foreclosure actually is a “phishing scam” seeking personal information, HUD officials said Friday. Stephen T. Banko III, HUD’s Buffalo field office director, said the site, http://bailout.hudgov.us, has no legitimate connection with HUD or a federal program known as “Home Affordable Modification Program.”

• “The scent of stimulus money is in the air, and the devious are circling like vultures,” Banko said. “People are going to have to be more vigilant than ever in separating the legitimate companies from the fly-by-nights.”

• Banko said the official looking site — which features a look-alike federal emblem and the American flag with a tiny word stating “advertisement” — illustrates the extraordinary measures scammers are willing to take to confuse the public.

For more, see Property owners warned about fake bailout.hud.gov Web site (if link expires, try here).