Scammers finding open door at foreclosed homes

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021409dnmethousescams.4178183.html


Here's how the scheme works: When a home enters foreclosure, someone files an appeal bond, which delays the court's foreclosure process for 30 to 60 days or longer. With the case tied up, the scammers change the door locks and find people to move in. The scammer collects rent until the homeowner, real estate agent or authorities disrupt the ruse.

(snip)

The scammers typically have a keen knowledge of the foreclosure process and the brazenness to bilk the system, authorities say.

"You have to have a somewhat sophisticated person to pull this off," said Andrew Masters, an investigator with the Dallas County district attorney's office. "There are holes in the system that allows it to be easy."

(snip)
"It's just amazing how much people can do, and there are no checks and balances anywhere on these mortgage issues," Cedar Hill police Lt. Steve Lafferty said. "They've taken the system, and they've worked it to the hilt."

[BlooInBloo]

1. Stupid question: How do they get the keys in the first place?

[flvegan]

2. I'd assume they break in somehow and from the inside open the doors

and change the locks.

Again, just an assumption.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Oh - ok. Then it's just burglary or something.

I think of "scam" as basically "semi-legal but shitty". That wouldn't be anywhere near legal.

[rainbow4321]

4. Not sure, but one of the comments to the article says

Most of the scammers are local licensed real estate brokers and agents...do they get keys to foreclosed houses somehow? I guess if one is into scamming, getting keys made for the house is not so hard (their own locksmith, maybe?). The other thing is, if the house has an alarm system at all, the people involved in the scamming would have to know the alarm code...
Here is the comment to the article:

This article forgot to mention that some of these "scammers" are local licensed real estate brokers and agents and not just someone trying to play agent to make a quick buck. This scam is being played out all over the DFW area and not just in the southern sector. We will be hearing more about this as it unfolds. The agents are collecting the first and last months rent up front and hoping that they can collect one or two months more before the bank evicts the "tenants". As mentioned earlier, there are a few homeowners doing this same scam as one was in my neighborhood two years ago.

[BlooInBloo]

5. That would surprise me, as that would open up the whole of Century 21 to massive litigation....

(There's a reason why they call them "agents".)