Las Vegas Man Facing Multiple Felony Counts In Rent Skimming, Rent To Own Scam; Targeted Homeowners Facing Foreclosure & Unwitting Renters

The fact that many homeowners facing foreclosure in today's market have minimal or no equity in their homes (many actually owe more on their mortgage than the value of the home - ie. "upside down") is no deterrent to scam artists looking to victimize them for financial gain under the guise of a foreclosure rescue, as the follwing story shows.

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KVBC-TV Channel 3 reports:

• It's a housing scam so big investigators admit the cases they know about may be just the tip of the iceberg. A Las Vegas man is behind bars accused of preying on those who were about to lose their homes. He said he could save them from foreclosure. [...] Matt Marlon has gone by plenty of names: Andrew Johnson and John Alson, among others. If you recognize him, the Secretary of State's Office wants to hear from you.

***

• At least sixty valley homeowners thought Marlon could help them. He offered to save them from foreclosure. "He would locate victims by doing a search of the public records on the Recorder's Office (website) for notice of default that are recorded then contact the victims saying he was interested in purchasing your home," [Nevada Secretary of State spokesperson Carolyn] Ellsworth explains.

• "He'd come to the house with a notary in tow," Ellsworth continues. "He'd give them documents saying he'd take care of everything. Take care of the payment, take care of paying off the mortgage and I'll pay you some cash too. He'd have them sign a contract of sale." Despite how official the forms signed by the homeowners might look, Marlon didn't really buy the house and he didn't pay off the mortgage. "After he would get the rightful owners out of the house under false pretenses, he would put renters in the houses in many cases. And those people... my investigators talked to one renter who felt they were leasing to own," Ellsworth said.

Reportedly, he used at least four different aliases, created at least 45 different corporations in his alleged scam, and used a post office box as his office. Marlon faces multiple felony counts of:

1. offering a false document for filing or recording,
2. theft of property by false pretenses,
3. theft of property by false pretenses from victims over the age of 60, and
4. forgery.

See Criminal Complaint - State of Nevada v. Marlon (if no longer available online, drop me a line at HomeEquityTheft@yahoo.com and I'll e-mail it to you - please put "State of Nevada v. Marlon" in the subject line).

For more, see Accused foreclosure scam artist behind bars (read story) (watch video).

See also, KLAS-TV Channel 8 report: Local Businessman Arrested in Massive Mortgage Fraud Case (read story) (watch video).

For more on "Rent To Own" and Lease / Option real estate scams, see "Rent To Own" Scams I.

For other posts involving rent / equity skimming scams, see Tenants Unwittingly Renting Homes In Foreclosure I , II , III , and IV.

Editor's Note: As the number of "upside down" homes going into foreclosure increase, you can watch the number of incidents involving this scam to increase as well. rent to own lease purchase option scams zebra; equity skimming unwittingly gamma