Staten Island mom had '20 minutes' to get out after losing home in foreclosure prevention scam. The red flags she missed

Several Staten Island families accidental they mislaid their homes aft turning to a foreclosure prevention institution that claimed it could assistance them (1).

Instead, homeowners accidental that moving with a concern called JT Home Savers near them evicted, locked retired and scrambling to container up their belongings aft losing their homes. Some accidental they were told their situations were “under control,” lone to larn — excessively precocious — that their properties had been sold.

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One of those homeowners, Dina Pantazis, described the heartbreak of being forced retired arsenic a locksmith changed the locks connected her longtime Staten Island home.

“I was moving astir the location trying to drawback things that I needed, grabbing bags and conscionable throwing things successful bags,” Pantazis told NBC 4 New York (1). “After 20 minutes, we had to go.”

Homeowner Joe Forte told NBC 4 that a caller proprietor opened his location to strangers “to instrumentality immoderate they wanted to take,” including his children’s clothing, aft purchasing and changing the locks connected his home.

Text messages reviewed by NBC 4 showed homeowners receiving requests to nonstop payments arsenic they awaited owe refinancing, which they accidental ne'er materialized. Some homeowners besides accidental they were told not to wage their mortgages during the process, an allegation Lauren Taliento, who runs JT Home Savers, denied successful a connection to NBC 4. About the homeowners’ payments, Taliento stated that, “Any funds exchanged were solely for intelligibly disclosed administrative processing, consulting oregon document-related services.”

Attorney Scott Ugell, a retired justice who specializes successful existent property instrumentality and present represents respective of the families, was blunt successful his assessment. “In my opinion, it was a garden-variety fraud,” Ugell told NBC 4. “It was encouraging radical to springiness her money, which she had nary close to take.”

Initially telling homeowners determination was nary case, the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office present says it is investigating the matter, according to NBC 4. However, for these homeowners, the harm whitethorn already beryllium done.

Foreclosure prevention and owe indebtedness modification scams often people homeowners astatine their astir susceptible — erstwhile they’re down connected payments, facing fiscal hardship and frightened of losing their homes. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau(CFPB), these schemes typically enactment “by making a mendacious committedness of redeeming you” done indebtedness modification promises (2), for example, oregon peculiar negotiations and insider connections.