Federal Judge Jails Pair in Home Improvement Scams

The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that two partners running a predatory lending home improvement scam, bilking low income homeowners, were sentenced to jail.

Both were convicted of mail and wire fraud targeting the local Latino community to take out high-interest loans for home improvements that were left uncompleted.

According to prosecutors, the scam artists were able to gain the trust of the victims by speaking their language and, once the victims agreed to go forward with the work on their homes, they were steered -- many of whom spoke only Spanish -- to funding sources which specialized in high interest-high cost loans designed for people with poor credit.