Foreclosure Rescue Scams

1. Consumer Affairs Branch
Fairfax County Department of
Cable and Consumer Services
fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer

2. Scam artists seek out
people who are not
informed about fraud.
Recognize the red flags.

3.  Public foreclosure notices in newspapers and
on the Internet.
 Public files at local government offices.
 Ads on TV and newspapers.
 Posters or flyers on telephone poles, median
strips, or at bus stops.

4.  Business card left at your home.
 Handwritten notices offering help.
 Call you on the phone.

5.  Stop Foreclosure Now!
 We guarantee to stop your foreclosure.
 Keep Your Home. No Problem!
 We have special relationships with banks.
 We Can Save Your Home.
 We stop foreclosures everyday. Our team of
professionals can stop yours this week!

6.  “Rescuers” ask you to pay the mortgage
directly to them while they negotiate with
the lender.
 After they get your money, they don’t send
the payments to the lender,
they disappear.

7. Before Foreclosure
 “Rescuers” pretend they are counselors who
can negotiate a deal with the lender.
 Claim they can save your home if you pay a
fee for their help.
 Fees range from hundreds to thousands of
dollars.

8. Before Foreclosure
 “Rescuers” ask you to pay the mortgage
directly to them while they negotiate with the
lender.
 After they get your money, they don’t send
the payments to the lender, they disappear.

9. Before Foreclosure
 “Rescuer” offers to refinance your loan to
bring your mortgage current.
 Instead of giving you refinancing paperwork,
they trick you in to signing a deed that
transfers ownership of your home to the
“rescuer”.

10. Before Foreclosure
 You lose your home for a loan that never
existed.
 You may still owe for the mortgage although
you no longer have a home.

11. Before Foreclosure
 The “rescuer” convinces the homeowners to
surrender the title with the promise that they
can stay in the home as a renter.
 Claim they can buy the home back later, but
fail to fully disclose the terms.
 Raise the rent so high you can’t afford to pay
 Make it impossible for you to buy your home
back.

12. After the “rescuer” gets your title
 Raise the rent so high you can’t afford to pay.
 Make it impossible for you to buy your home
back.
 Evict you from your home.
 Sell your home for a profit and get all of your
equity.

13. Before Foreclosure
 The “rescuer” promises to negotiate with your
lender, or get refinancing for you for a fee up
front.
 After they get your money, they file a
bankruptcy case in your name, usually
without your knowledge.
 This stops the foreclosure temporarily.

14. Before Foreclosure
 If you fail to attend the first meeting with the
creditors, the bankruptcy judge will dismiss
the case and foreclosure will proceed.
 You lose your home and your money.

15. After foreclosure
 A scam artist offers the homeowner a very
small payment in exchange for the keys as an
incentive for them to leave the property to
avoid the eviction process.
 After the homeowner moves, the scam artist
negotiates a larger payment directly with the
lender or new owner.

16. After foreclosure
 Phony “rescuers” ask the homeowner to turn
over the keys in exchange for a promise to
“rescue” them from eviction.
 They pay the homeowner a small amount of
money.
 After they take your money, they do nothing.
 You find you’ve been scammed when you get
an eviction notice.

17. Protects Homeowners
 Prohibits any person from accepting a fee in
exchange for a promise to avoid or prevent
foreclosure before the full and complete
performance of agreed services.
 Deceptive practices are a violation of the
VCPS, § 59.1-2001.1

18. 12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 433
Fairfax, Virginia 22035
703-222-8435 TTY 711
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer
consumer@fairfaxcounty.gov