NYC Foreclosure Rescue Scammer Target Of Lawsuits; Can't Be Found, FBI Investigating

In New York City, The New York Daily News ran an investigative report on foreclosure rescue scams Sunday. Below, an excerpt:

• Heartless scammers who call themselves "angels" are ripping off scores of desperate homeowners facing foreclosure, a Daily News investigation shows. Instead of rescuing them from the financial abyss, they steal their savings, their homes and their dignity. One self-declared "angel" is Maurice McDowall, who ran a string of companies in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island. [...] The FBI is investigating McDowall, and he's the target of numerous lawsuits charging him with fraud. Lawyers looking for him say he has vanished.

McDowall's equity stripping operations bore names like "Lost & Found Recovery" and "Home Mergers," according to The News' investigation. Reportedly, lawyers for one alleged victim tried but failed to serve McDowall with papers at his latest base of operations, Home Savers Consulting Corp., another company that since has been accused of perpetrating foreclosure rescue schemes.

Jessica Attie, a lawyer with South Brooklyn Legal Services, says she sees more and more rescue scam victims coming to her office. For more, see 'Angels' hit desperate homeowners with foreclosure scam.

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For story updates, see:

• New York Daily News: Two found guilty in mortgage scam and face 30 years in prison,
• The Associated Press: 2 plead guilty in NY mortgage frauds targeting homeowners,
• North Country Gazette: Two Guilty Of Home Foreclosure Rescue Scheme,
• Blog post: NYC Feds Indict Six In Alleged Foreclosure Rescue Scam Operation.

For more on equity stripping scams, generally, see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.).

Go here for other posts on foreclosure rescue operator, Home Savers Consulting.