Nevada AG Announces Public Awareness Campaign Against Real Estate Scams Targeting Financially Strapped Homeowners

In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports:

• Nevada’s foreclosure pandemic has attracted a slew of scam artists hoping to take advantage of homeowners desperate to avoid losing their homes. In response, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto [...] announced a new public awareness campaign to help citizens spot fraud and point them toward legitimate businesses.

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• Cortez Masto rattled off a list of statistics to illustrate the crisis: Her office has received complaints against more than 200 companies, opened 14 cases in criminal court, obtained five felony convictions and sent 51 cases to civil courts, she said. The plan now is to catch the problem before it expands, she explained.

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• One common scam happens when a company requires a large down payment and then sends the homeowner a small refund after completing no work — called an automatic refund scam. Or, a company will guarantee to reduce a homeowner’s principal on a mortgage as a marketing ploy.

• In other instances, a company will pledge that, if the homeowner sells the house to a group of investors, they will sell it back with a reduced mortgage — called a “phantom investor scam.” Officials advised citizens to be wary of any business that make guarantees or pressures them to sign and pay.

For the story, see AG announces campaign to fight foreclosure scams.