Amidst Foreclosures – Fraudsters Have a Gala Time

Times are tough in the US. As the economy spins out of control, people are losing jobs. As unemployment peaks, people are faltering on mortgage payments. Hence, foreclosures have become common. As homeowners are set to lose properties there is a sense of desperation to cling on to homes – a tricky situation that has spawned fraud. These fraudsters are promising a life out of the misery. They are assuring people of mortgage modification, of course, in exchange for a fee.

Now a father-daughter duo has been sentenced to imprisonment in a fraud case. Forty eight year old Clifford McCall of Maryland and Chandra Jones have been sentenced to prison for a wire fraud. They had promised to help homeowners in modifying mortgage. They had also assured to repair damaged credit.

The IRS-Criminal Investigation has initiated a case against the offenders. In fact the agency has joined hands with the community to weed out corrupt practices from the economy.

The plea agreement of McCall specified that McCall was a senior official of Burroughs & Smythe Financial Services. He is also the director of Fordham & Fordham Investment Group, which is a consulting firm for foreclosures. These companies advised distressed homeowners about how to retain homes in times of trouble.

In 2004, however, McCall started duping the homeowners. They had sufficient equity in their homes but were finding it difficult to make mortgage payments because of job loss. Hence, foreclosure of their homes was imminent. Their credit was also damaged. McCall advised these homeowners to put the title of their homes in third party purchasers’ names. Metropolitan Money Store also assured that it would improve the credit ratings of the homeowners, and help them get more favorable mortgage. The title of homes would be eventually returned to them.

The homeowners got the assurance that the equity drawn out from their homes would go towards paying the mortgage. Money would also be spent on homes and the credit would be repaired. It may be noted that the third party purchasers were paid.

Now the fraudsters prepared loan applications and gave them to the lenders. The fraudsters in this way obtained hugely inflated loans on the properties. The conspirators, therefore, duped people by promising loans to the home owners which they never received. Money was ploughed into escrow accounts. In this way McCall obtained at least $2,462,107.85 for personal use. The fraudsters continued the practice till 2007.