How To Protect Yourself - Scams and Cons Explained

Protecting Your Financial Health

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Learn about scams before they happen. While we cannot offer legal advice we can teach and inform so you know what to watch for. Collection offers may sound valid, but companies want your money and may promise to help. This is your online scam, fraud and con prevention center

On these pages we tell you the truth about settlements scams, debt collector scams, false promises, and how companies later claim "There is no record of that conversation", and how to prevent future frustration

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The FBI says types of public corruption include:

Law Enforcement corruption at the state or local level typically involves the payment of bribes or kickbacks in exchange for official actions or inaction. It also includes any violation of law not necessarily connected to the official duties of law enforcement personnel.

Legislative corruption at the state or local level usually involves payment of bribes or kickbacks in exchange for official action or inaction. These bribes or kickbacks can be received by the legislators themselves, by aides, by staff persons, and/or by outside parties doing business with the government.

Municipal corruption involves illegal activities similar to legislative corruption. Common corruption schemes at a local level include bribes or kickbacks in exchange for: supporting local ordinances, approving local government bond issuance, reducing taxes unlawfully, fraudulently manipulating probate assets, and conspiring with others to rezone property or to influence land-use proposals.

Judicial corruption typically arises out of the corrupt influencing of state or local judges, juries, or court personnel (clerks, bailiffs, probation officials, and other administrative staff). Common corrupt schemes include: payments to judiciary personnel in exchange for dismissal of charges; reduction of charges, bonds, or sentences; waiver of fines; return of forfeitable property; and favorable probation conditions.

Contract corruption usually involves the payment of bribes or kickbacks to local or state officials in exchange for favorable treatment on government contracts. Potential subjects are private contractors, anyone acting on their behalf, and public officials involved in the contracting process (procurement officers, purchasing agents, city councilpersons, and county commissioners).

Regulatory corruption involves payment to local, state, or federal officials in exchange for favorable action or inaction pertaining to identification documents, licensing, and inspection and zoning variances. Unlawful payments are commonly known as bribes and kickbacks.

Prison corruption involves corrections officers taking unlawful payment for acts directly or indirectly related to their job. Common schemes include: smuggling contraband into the facility, granting unlawful privileges, and prematurely releasing inmates.

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Loan restructure scams

In the list of top 10 scams for 2007, Foreclosure rescue scams came in at Number 7.

As if people who fell behind on mortgage payments didn't have enough troubles, an increasing number became victims of foreclosure rescue frauds. In the list of top 10 scams for 2007, Foreclosure rescue scams came in at #7.

According to real estate experts, the scams take different forms:

Owners unknowingly sign over properties. The property owner is led to understand that they will be able to rent the property until they are able to secure financing. The perpetrator of the scam gets control of the property usually with the help of a straw buyer to secure a new mortgage for the current appraised value. The scam artist pockets the stripped equity and does not make payments on the new loan. When the property is foreclosed on the straw buyer, the original owner is evicted. Even after month of paying rent to the scam artist.

Loan restructure "experts" collect fees and do nothing. Many times owners with delinquent mortgages are approached with a “for fee” deal. They are assured that if they pay the company or person approaching them up front, that they will be able to negotiate a better deal with the mortgage company than the homeowner can on their own. The homeowner is instructed to not contact the mortgage lender directly, but to let the negotiator handle the transaction to get the loan restructured. The fees are pocketed with no negotiations taking place on behalf of the homeowner. Neither the homeowner nor the mortgage company are aware the third party (mortgage rescue negotiator) is doing NOTHING except taking the money and skipping, providing zero service for the fees.

Fake refinance brokers inflate property values for personal gain. People have been approached to refinance with loans that require prepayment of fees for the application. The fee is a percentage based on the total of the new mortgage loan. Many people are paying thousands of dollars to fill out an application when there is no guarantee of getting a loan approved and funded, or that the fake broker will even file the application. The fake broker pockets the fees, no application is submitted or loan products offered have more onerous terms and higher payments than the one the homeowner is trying to refinance.

Foreclosure notices are publicly recorded and published in local newspapers. Scammers approach homeowners directly at their doorstep or call them on the telephone. The scammers’ modes of operation are little different than a burglar planning a home invasion based on publications of funeral notices. Homeowners are targeted when they are most vulnerable, in the place they feel most secure, at the time they are most desperate and easily confused..

In some cases, the scams resulted in homeowners losing whatever equity they did have. Or they lost a home that might have been saved with a legitimate refinancing. If you are approached directly in either by someone offering any of these solutions, contact your local advocate. Report the situation and seek counseling.

2010/09/03 · by T. Blake