Vultures
By Mitch Berg
David Kaplan, writing at the Daily Planet, is onto yet another mortgage modification scam:
With the foreclosure rate in the metro area still soaring, struggling homeowners face a new and more sinister threat – unscrupulous scam artists. With ads claiming they can help you keep your home while eliminating your mortgage and property tax, a group calling themselves “Slavery to Sovereignty” is the latest in a long line to take advantage of residents who are desperate for help.
And yes, this one is aimed at the most scam-vulnerable:
At least one ad from the group ran in a newspaper that reaches a largely-immigrant audience, but the small group that gathered at Sabathani Center on January 9 appeared to be a mix of local African American residents as well as recent immigrants.
Perhaps worst of all? The alleged scammers are retired “public servants”:
People listened eagerly and had many questions as Peter “PJ” Johnson, a retired Minneapolis Parks Police Officer, and his partner Abagail Conley spoke.
Johnson and Conley claimed they could eliminate participants’ mortgages and all tax liabilities in return for $12,500. Mr. Johnson said the program would take anywhere from six months to three years, but was quick to point out that there were no guarantees.
Read the whole thing.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:16 pm
They’ll need to close the daal on a number of the $12.5K scams to cover the cost of a bail bondsman. What baffles me is who has $12.5K laying around but can’t make the mortgage payments?