Foreclosure Fraud

How to Protect Yourself from Foreclosure Frauds and Scams

Why Foreclosure Victims Become Instant Targets

You just got home and you see a flyer taped to the front door – it’s an offer by someone to help save your home.  You check your mail – there’s 30 letters and postcards from other rescuers offering to buy your home, save your credit, and help you find a new home. 

Then you go inside and you check your phone recorder – it has 10 messages on it from foreclosures consultants, realtors, and credit rescuers also offering to help you avoid foreclosures.  Where is all of this stuff coming from?  How did they get my name?  How did they know I’m facing foreclosure?

How do they find you? It's easy. Once your lender files your foreclosure notice with the public trustee (at the  County Courthouse usually) it becomes part of the public record.

There are data companies that then collect this information and sell it on a subscription basis to realtors, investors, mortgage brokers, credit repair companies and anyone else that could profit by your distressed situation.  That is why, shortly after the notice is recorded, the homeowner is usually deluged with mail, phone calls and people knocking on the door offering various forms of assistance and/or foreclosure prevention. 

One important action item is to make sure that your phone numbers are on the Do Not Call List.  Go to www.donotcall.gov and register all of your phones, including your cell phones.  

It is illegal to call people to solicit products or services for sale if you are on the Do Not Call list.  To file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, your phone number must have been on their Do Not Call registry for 31 days.

To file a complaint, the FTC will need the date you got the call, and either the name or telephone number of the company that called you. Remember, that even if your number is registered, companies with which you do business may continue to call you. So may charities, political organizations, and telephone surveyors.

Also, set up your phones to block anonymous calls.  Most importantly, if you can switch phone numbers and get one that is unlisted, I highly recommend it.

For all the mail that you receive you will be amazed at the types of mail and the creative techniques the rescuers will try, just to get you to open their mail.  Some of them will try to disguise their mail as personal by hand writing your name and address, using uncommon and colorful postage stamps, and will put it in invitation size envelopes.

Others will use what is called “lumpy mail” and put something in the envelope like a Lifesaver candy – just to get your curiosity up enough so you will open it.  And others will try to make their mail look like it is from official government sources or legal entities.  

I would be inclined to take all the mail, mark “return to sender – contains pornographic material” on it, and give it back to the U.S. Postal Service.  However, if you do open your mail, and end up calling the person that sent it, make sure you keep ALL copies of and correspondence and records of all phone calls and conversations.  You may need it later on.