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Real Estate & Property Law

The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

More On Loan Modifications Gone Bad

Posted on April 25, 2009
The following links are to stories on financially strapped homeowners reporting problems with loan modification companies they hired to help resolve their mortgage problems:Chicago, Illinois: Scams about foreclosures, jobs, IRS feed on desperation. Last September, Esmeralda Carmona only had enough money to pay a fraction of her mortgage...

More On Foreclosure Arson

Posted on April 25, 2009
The following links are to stories on property in foreclosure that have mysteriously gone up in flames:West Asheville, North Carolina: The Asheville-Buncombe Arson Task Force has identified enough physical evidence at the historic Richmond Hill Inn in West Asheville to determine the cause of the fire to be intentionally set...

Delinquent Homeowner's Bank Account Wiped Out By Mortgage Lender Before Foreclosure; No Court Judgment Needed, Says Bank

Posted on April 25, 2009
In Phoenix, Arizona, KTVK-TV Channel 3 reports:[U]nable to keep up with his mortgage payments, [Joel] Contreras is giving his condo back to the bank. He says that's depressing enough, but he certainly wasn't prepared for what happened next. "When I looked at my bank account and saw that it was all wiped out, it took me a good day to rebound from that," he said...

California Duo Sentenced For Tricking 94-Year Old Homeowner Into Signing Over Title To House; Court Orders Ownership To Be Restored In Victim's Name

Posted on April 24, 2009
The San Bernardino, California District Attorney's Office announced:A Victorville couple was sentenced to county jail on felony charges connected to real estate fraud and financial elder abuse. Joe Warf, 51, and Tracy Warf, 41, appeared in Victorville Superior Court on Friday, April 10, 2009...

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Pennsylvania AG Warns State Homeowners Of Defunct Escrow Company, Possible Unpaid Property Tax & Insurance Bills

Posted on April 24, 2009
From the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General:Attorney General Tom Corbett [...] announced that the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection has launched an investigation into the business practices of American Escrow LLC, an Illinois-based escrow company that suddenly halted operations in March 2009...

Oregon Feds Expand Effort To Prosecute Mortgage Fraud, Foreclosure & Short Sale Scams

Posted on April 24, 2009
In Portland, Oregon, The Bend Bulletin reports:The Portland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney?s Office have expanded their efforts to identify and prosecute mortgage fraud throughout the state, including Central Oregon, according to an announcement this week from the state?s Department of Justice...

Atlanta Homeowner Gets Legal Aid Help In Fighting Off Wachovia Predatory Loan Foreclosure

Posted on April 24, 2009
In Atlanta, Georgia, WGCL-TV Channel 46 reports:[A]vonia Carson will never forget the day she and her husband made their last payment on the house they bought in 1971. [...] But a few years ago, after adding on a new den and accumulating some other debt after the death of her husband, Carson answered an advertisement from Wachovia bank to try to get her debt payments down...

Tough Economy Triggers Sleazy Collection Practices As Threatening, Humiliating MySpace Messages, Profanity Alleged In Civil Suits

Posted on April 24, 2009
In Chicago, Illinois, WLS-TV Channel 7 reports:A Chicago man is suing a collection agency and JP Morgan Chase Bank for posting threatening messages on his daughter's MySpace account. James Ricobene claims Universal Tracing Services threatened his daughter with felony charges and possible imprisonment if he didn't pay back his car loan...

New Name, Same Operation For San Diego-Area Loan Modification Firm

Posted on April 24, 2009
In San Diego, California, ABC News reports:People's First Financial, an aggressive loan modification company that was the subject of a "20/20" story last month, has begun doing business under a different name. A related loan modification company, Sunrise Financial, has just started doing business out of the same San Diego office...

Seattle Feds Get Guilty Pleas In Mortgage Fraud/Marijuana Grow House Operation

Posted on April 23, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Western District of Washington):JET CITY MORTGAGE, LLC and one of its owners and operators, HA-DUYEN THI LE, a/k/a Holly Le, pleaded guilty [last week] in U.S. District Court in Seattle to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Money Laundering in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme...

Pennsylvania Regulators Order Four Loan Modification Firms To Cease Unlicensed Activity Within State

Posted on April 23, 2009
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Banking reports:The Department of Banking recently ordered four out-of-state mortgage modification companies to stop engaging in unlicensed activity in Pennsylvania. The department issued cease and desist orders against Consumer Loan Modification of Arizona and U...

Staten Island DA Now Acknowledges Real Estate Fraud Problem In His County

Posted on April 23, 2009
The announcement by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York in a recent news conference that he will seek $100 million in federal money to fund real estate fraud units in local prosecutors' offices across the country to combat deed, mortgage and foreclosure fraud has apparently caused the Richmond County District Attorney's office to abandon its recently-articulated position that there is no

Virginia Man Charged With Using Stolen IDs To Steal Title To, Fraudulently Borrow Against, Two Homes

Posted on April 23, 2009
In San Bernardino, California, the Office of the San Bernardino District Attorney announced:[S]an Bernardino County District Attorney Investigators assigned to the Real Estate Fraud Unit traveled to suburban Washington D.C. and escorted wanted suspect, Duk Sung Jin, 30, of McLean Virginia, back to San Bernardino County to face felony fraud charges...

Virginia Feds Bust Five In Alleged Scam Using Stolen IDs In "Cash Back" Mortgage Fraud Racket

Posted on April 23, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Eastern District of Virginia):Five individuals(1) are accused of a mortgage scam fraudulently purchasing homes in Northern Virginia and profiting by using the mortgage proceeds to pay ?home improvement? expenses and other payments totaling nearly $337,000...

Miami Man Convicted Of Using Stolen IDs To Rip Off Unwitting Homeowners' HELOC Accounts

Posted on April 23, 2009
From the U.S. Attorney's Office (Eastern District of Virginia):A jury convicted Henry ?Uche? Obilo, age 29, of Miami, Fl., today of conspiracy to commit bank fraud involving a home equity line of credit fraud scheme that has been linked to $8 million in actual losses...

Utility Temporarily Pulls Plug On S. Florida Condo Association Ravaged By Foreclosure & Unable To Pay Light Bills; Residents Dodge Getting Booted

Posted on April 23, 2009
In Hialeah, Florida, WFOR-TV Channel 4 reports:After FPL and a property management company struck a deal, families living in a Northwest Miami-Dade condo complex are getting the lights turned back on in areas such as parking lots, hallways and other common areas...

Miami-Area Court System To Implement Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation Program For Owner-Occupied Homes

Posted on April 23, 2009
In Miami, Florida, the Daily Business Review reports:Overwhelmed by foreclosures, the Miami-Dade Circuit Court plans to announce today a mandatory mediation program for cases involving owner-occupied homes. The program is set to begin May 1. Chief Circuit Judge Joseph Farina signed an administrative order April 9 creating the program, which mandates lenders to pay an additional $750 fee for the

Philadelphia Homeowner Loses Home To Title Fraud; Cost To Hire Lawyer To Unwind Scam Unaffordable For Victim

Posted on April 22, 2009
A recent story by The Associated Press on the apparent need for strengthening notary laws to protect unwitting homeowners from having their homes stolen out from underneath them by deed/title fraud scammers contained these excerpts on one victim who lost her home and, because retaining an attorney to file a civil lawsuit to undo the theft was unaffordable, was never able to get it back:The small

Hawaii Feds Ring Up 2 More Guilty Pleas In Sale Leaseback Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Civil Case Continues As One Victim Seeks To Recover Property Title

Posted on April 22, 2009
The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports:The owners of a Honolulu mortgage brokerage firm pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering yesterday in a scheme that used phony buyers to obtain loans to buy homes that were in foreclosure proceedings. Federal Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren set a Sept...

NYC Man Charged With Swiping Co-Owner's 75% Interest In Bronx Building; Also Accused Of Duping Notary Into Signing Off On Mortgage Satisfactions

Posted on April 22, 2009
In The Bronx, New York, the New York Daily News reports:A Manhattan businessman struck out in his fraudulent bid to sell a building across from Yankee Stadium, Manhattan federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Benun, 35, hid several mortgages on the commercial property at 67-79 E...

NYC Attorney: Deed, Home Equity Scammers "Continue To Have Better Chance Of Being Kidnapped By Somali Pirates Than Of Being Prosecuted By Brooklyn DA"

Posted on April 22, 2009
In Brooklyn, New York, one local legal services attorney expressed his views on the apparent slow-footedness of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' office in prosecuting scammers perpetrating mortgage, deed, and home equity ripoffs in a recent New York Times story :?Most of the con artists perpetrating frauds at this moment continue to have a better chance of being kidnapped by Somali

St. Louis-Based Legal Services Lawyers To Launch Foreclosure Defense Project

Posted on April 22, 2009
In St. Louis, Missouri, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports:Legal Services of Eastern Missouri is launching a ?Foreclosure Defense Project? to help clients who are at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure, the St. Louis-based nonprofit said recently...

Government Funding For Legal Services Lawyers Gets Strong Public Support, Says Poll; Sen. Harkin Looks To Double Budget For Services To Poor, Indigent

Posted on April 22, 2009
The Associated Press reports:Americans strongly support government-paid legal services for the poor, says a poll commissioned by the Legal Services Corp. Two-thirds of those polled for the American Bar Association by Harris Interactive said theyfavor federal funding for people who need legal assistance...

Wisconsin Man Charged With Stealing From Dementia-Stricken Homeowner; Victim's House Ultimately Lost In Foreclosure

Posted on April 22, 2009
In Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, WQOW-TV Channel 18 reports:A Chippewa Falls man is charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a woman who was in the early stages of Dementia. Todd Evenson is charged with theft. Investigators say he made a deal with a woman in 2004 that he would do chores in exchange for a room...

Cape Cod Time Share Developer Pocketed $1.5M Of Customers' Cash, then Failed To Deliver Units, Says Mass AG

Posted on April 22, 2009
In Boston, Massachusetts, Cape Cod Times reports:The former owner of the Navigator Beach Club in Dennisport collected more than $1.5 million from consumers, but never delivered the timeshare units promised in exchange, Attorney General Martha Coakley alleges in a lawsuit filed [last week] in Boston...

"Who Owns the Note" Among Points To Be Covered By North Florida Foreclosure Self-Defense Seminar For Financially Strapped Homeowners

Posted on April 22, 2009
The Pensacola News Journal reports:A seminar on foreclosures is set for 6 p.m. Monday. Legal Services of North Florida will present ?Avoiding and Defending Foreclosure - Your Legal Options? at St. Sylvester Church, 6464 Gulf Breeze Pkwy., Gulf Breeze...

New Jersey Woman Gets 10 Years In Foreclosure Investment Program Ponzi Scheme

Posted on April 22, 2009
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:A woman who recruited nearly 2,800 small investors to supposedly "buy" foreclosed properties was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison. The scheme was bogus, and only the early investors got rich. A few made $50,000 to $250,000 on their $1,000 investments , and quickly spread the word to others about Lizette Morice and her suburban Philadelphia

Schumer Seeks To Authorize $100M To Unleash Real Estate, Mortgage Scam Cops Throughout Country

Posted on April 21, 2009
From the Office Of U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer:United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, joined by [the five New York City District Attorneys], announced he is introducing new legislation to better protect homeowners from the recent wave of housing scams that are plaguing New Yorkers and homeowners across the country...

Strengthen Notary Laws To Curb Deed/Title Fraud, Say Prosecutors; Requiring Seller Thumbprints On Deed Transfers May Offer Partial Solution

Posted on April 21, 2009
The Associated Press reports:[W]ith a notary seal, criminals can steal the title to a house, take out a mortgage, drain the equity in the property and even give themselves power of attorney to access a victim's bank accounts. "Notaries really are the gatekeepers for fraud in real estate transactions, yet we don't put in the type of mechanism that would help law enforcement track down the crooks,"

Arizona Man Cops Guilty Plea In Loan Modification Scam

Posted on April 21, 2009
The Arizona Daily Star reports:A Glendale man has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with a mortgage loan scam that bilked 47 homeowners, the Attorney General's Office said. Bobby John Herrera, 33, will be sentenced May 13 and he faces five years in prison as well as $73,000 in restitution payments to victims...

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