I The owner is directed to fill out a few forms including a blank bank- After completing the the con artist files the peti-owner's name. Ile peti- the automatic stay, foreclosure postponed and the
stops
and letters.
Losing your house
doesnt even ell the owner about petition. Instead, he convinces
the owner that foreclosure activity because the owner's problems have-been worked though, when no one appears. hearing before a trustee to op- the stay, the case is dis- foreclosure proceeds the house is lost en however, the case has delayed for months, and dur- time, the crook has been monthly mortgage payunknowing owner, who has been told the payments will forwaredd to the lender. another popular swindle, law enforcement officials call the frac- transfer," a 5 percent percent interest in the proper
sferred to a real or fake enti- ady in bankruptcy and for -an alltDnudc stay had
a already filed. Since the lendefcannot lose when even a portion of the rship is held by somq)ne proby a stay, the processing is in its tracks. metimes the transfer is done the financially troubled owner's But often, it is transferred swindler, who then transfers to someone else without eggs knowled
get And somethe interest is'moved from case as each stay is lifted. force found one property
Wt'~W linked to 24 different bank- 7 cases. In another case, the
rr paid
a not only the up-front fee
64also several hundred dollars a to stay in her home. a obvious victims in all this are who, the task force found, no payments for many a, or even years, while being from foreclosing." But it Koppers lose big, too, and notjust
I 4;ii homes or money.
C Once abankruptcy has been filed
name, the court has no au- to remove it from future reports, even if itisWAsuna*- And of course, onci-&se. V f phony filings is under way, mobility of renegotiating the has been destroyed.