NJ Scammer Used Forged Documents To Pocket $700K In Mortgage Proceeds On Elderly Woman's Home; Senior Now Faces Foreclosure

In Ocean Grove, New Jersey, WCBS-TV Channel 2 reports:

• A New Jersey woman was scammed out of all of her money after being duped by a woman she met at church. [... Nancy] Yobbagy worked hard, saved her money, and expected to retire on the Jersey Shore. Now, though, her house is in foreclosure and all of her money has been lost to a scam artist.

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• Yobbagy trusted that woman, Zina Martin, to invest her money. They met at church, and Yobbagy eventually handed over her modest pension, as well as that of her husband. Yobbagy received statements every month showing impressive returns of 15 percent and more, but those statements were false. Prosecutors said Martin spent the money on herself, and it didn’t stop there.

• “I got a call from a bank saying, ‘you’re in default on your mortgage,’” Yobbagy said. “I said, ‘you must have the wrong number, because my mortgage is paid.’” Yobaggy hired a lawyer who said Zina Martin forged the paperwork for two mortgages – adding up to about $700,000 – and then let them go into default.

• “She caused this house to go into foreclosure,” Yobbagy’s attorney, Richard DeVita, said. "Nancy has lost every cent of every dollar she’s ever worked for.”

For the story, see NJ Woman Victim Of Scam Artist She Met In Church (Nancy Yobbagy, 78, says a scam artist she met at church stole her life savings).