Disabled Man Scammed Out Of Home Equity By Gypsy Scammers; Lifelong Home Now Faces Foreclosure

In Long Beach, California, the Press Telegram reports:

• Stephen was born and raised in Long Beach, grew up in the home owned by his parents, and thought he would live there until the end of his days. That was before a local Gypsy family lured him into their fold, stripped his property of every stick of furniture and everything of value, and mortgaged his house beyond salvage, police said.

• Now Stephen, whose full name is being withheld to protect his identity, has his childhood home in foreclosure and is left to rebuild his life at the age of 51. The three people who scammed him were later convicted.

• "Like a lot of people, I used to think Gypsies danced with tambourines ... and told people's fortunes," said [Long Beach Police Department Forgery and Fraud Unit's David] Lanier. "(After joining the National Association of Bunco Investigators) I learned (that many of them) are part of a criminal organization." "They're like the Mafia," Detective Stacey Holdredge added.

For the details of how the scam group gained their victim's confidence, and the Long Beach Police Department's investigation that led to the bust of the group, see Fraud shatters disabled man's life.