The state Attorney General’s Office has launched an advertising campaign and consumer education initiative to help New York homeowners spot, avoid and report mortgage-rescue scams.
The ads, which will appear on billboards and in Facebook ads, will target homeowners in areas of the state hardest hit by these scams. They will direct homeowners to AGScamHelp.com, a web-based app launched by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office in December in response to an uptick in complaints from lawyers and housing counselors about the rise of mortgage rescue scams. Homeowners can contact the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP), a network of nearly 90 housing counseling and legal service agencies funded by Schneiderman’s office that provide free services to homeowners facing foreclosure.
Schneiderman said mortgage-rescue scams typically prey on homeowners who are in foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure. Scammers will provide what seems like a way out of foreclosure, but will then bilk the homeowner while providing little or no help.
The billboards will be placed in high-traffic areas and Facebook ads will be targeted in ZIP codes where foreclosure rates and scam complaints have been most common.
“The most powerful tools to stop mortgage rescue scams are educated, vigilant homeowners,” Schneiderman said. “These scams are particularly pernicious because they take victims of the housing crash and make them victims again. My office will do all we can to ensure homeowners have the tools they need to protect themselves and we will continue to vigorously pursue scammers who target vulnerable homeowners.”
AGScamHelp.com and the HOPP program are overseen by the Center for New York City Neighborhoods and Empire Justice Center, both nonprofits.
According to a December report by the Center for NYC Neighborhoods and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, mortgage rescue scammers have conned $100 million from more than 42,000 homeowners nationwide.
Schneiderman said on average, each New York foreclosure rescue scam reported a loss of $4,183.
