Women Arrested For Foreclosure Scam

March 31st, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure

On Wednesday last two women were arrested for running a huge foreclosure rescue racket. The news was reported by the office of Alameda County’s district office. 37 year old Sonia Alburez and 42 year old Verena Silva where charged for cheating vulnerable foreclosure victims of $1,500 to $2,500 per month by giving false promises about saving their houses from foreclosure. There was a 36 count complaint filed in the Superior Court of the County. Despite these assurances the victims lost their houses as well as the fees they had paid to the duo.

The two women introduced themselves as representatives of Livermore based company running by the name of Community Home Saver. They targeted 14 different house owners in Alameda County. The law enforcing officials said that investigations were going on only on a tiny proportion of the scams having been done by Community Home Saver.

This incident is nothing new. With the increase in number of foreclosures has been a proportionate rise in scams right across the country. The gullible victims have often signed away the title deed of the house to these fraudsters. On top of this they have also managed to take some money by way of fees. More and more new methods of swindling are being detected.

Alburez and Silva managed to get hold of the list of houses in default from the record office of the county. Then they sent mails saying that they could help the foreclosure victims. This was reported by David Lim a deputy district attorney of Alameda County. They said that for a fee they would save the houses by transferring a small amount of interest on the houses to companies that did not exist through the making of grant deeds. These companies would then file for bankruptcy protection which would invariably put on hold the foreclosure proceedings until the bankruptcy case was disposed off. In reality the banks contested the bankruptcies and proceeded with the foreclosures as usual.

The warning has been given out to be cautious about plans relating to deeding a fractional interest on the property as this is totally illegal. In this way foreclosure cannot the halted. It is illegal. That apart according to California laws it is illegal for any foreclosure counsel to accept money before the deed is positively concluded. One should not get taken in by glib talk but remain calm seeking the help of bonafide consultants only.