Lew Sichelman
Perhaps you’ve heard the term “greenwashing,” which refers to the practice of falsely claiming a product is environmentally sound.
Now comes Green Mirage: a mortgage-relief scam identified as a particularly concerning threat by the Federal Communications Commission. The deceptive calling campaign is sweeping the country, costing homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The scheme works like this: Scammers ring up unsuspecting homeowners, posing as representatives from their mortgage company or loan servicer. The scammers threaten foreclosure unless the homeowners agree to make specific, immediate payments.
Often, the people targeted had already sought relief from their real lenders, and were expecting a return call – making these phony pitches seem more plausible.
If you get such a call, don’t fall for it. Hang up and call your lender or servicer right away. And use the company’s publicly available number, not the one the caller provides, which is probably illegitimate.
Scammers Often Know Your Info
According to the FCC, the Green Mirage operatives often know all the details about your mortgage – your name, address, loan number and even what you still owe. They spoof the caller ID of your actual lender to convince you that they’re on the up-and-up.
The scammers will tell you to make these “emergency” payments in a different manner than usual – most commonly, the FCC said, by money order to a third party. If you fall for the act and pay them, your real lender will never see that money because the payments are directed to another scammer, often a fake attorney who uploads the funds to a Walmart Green Dot MoneyCard.
Using “sophisticated social engineering techniques,” the FCC said, Green Mirage scammers have impersonated more than 400 mortgage-related institutions, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses to deceived homeowners. Many victims only find out they’ve been hoodwinked when their real lender initiates foreclosure proceedings.
The FCC is so concerned about the scam that it issued an advisory to “remind voice service providers of their role in protecting consumers by aggressively combatting the scourge of illegal spoofed calls.” The agency also notified domestic and international law enforcement groups, as well as mortgage business stakeholders, of the threat.
“We will not stop investigating and exposing such schemes … to protect the integrity of our communications networks,” said the FCC’s Acting Enforcement Bureau Chief Peter Hyun in a statement.
Bottom line: If someone calls you and pressures you to make a payment, your antennae should wiggle – especially if the caller doesn’t want the money to go through the usual channels. And of course, never share your personal or financial information over the phone.
Apartment Fraud Also Rising
Meanwhile, fraud has also found the rental sector in a big way. Indeed, said fraud detection firm Snappt, it is evolving more rapidly than apartment managers can keep up with.
Fraudsters employ a wide range of tactics to get into an apartment. Once they’re in, they fail to pay rent, living free for months until they’re evicted – only to move on to another property and run the con again.
“Property managers frequently encounter sophisticated schemes designed to slip through the cracks,” reads a recent Snappt report. “From falsified pay stubs to meticulously altered bank statements, fraudsters’ tactics are evolving faster than ever.”
Many scammers manipulate documents – say, by editing their proof-of-income forms or filling in online templates that can replicate popular payroll providers. Sometimes, they use stolen personal information to create fake IDs and impersonate someone else.
But on top of these tactics, Snappt reports an uptick in fake documents being generated entirely from scratch. Using generative tools like FraudGPT, con artists can create realistic, but fake, papers.
These clever dodges can have a severe financial impact on property managers. Evicting someone costs roughly $7,500, and that’s on top of lost rental income. Overall, Snappt reports that the average amount of bad debt per property manager due to fraudulent applications is just over $1 million.
Nearly 3 out of 4 property managers surveyed told the company that applicant fraud is just as prevalent this year as it was last year. Despite this, nearly half still verify potential renters’ IDs manually – and 2 percent don’t verify them at all.
Fake Home Listings, Too
Finally, here’s one more scam to watch out for. A neighbor in a community near mine was surprised when a For Sale sign popped up on the lot next door. She thought it was odd, because the owner had always said he had no intention of selling, so she called him to ask about it.
The owner said no, the place wasn’t for sale, and he immediately called the company whose sign was in the yard. Embarrassed, an agent arrived in minutes to remove the sign. As it turns out, the company had taken the listing over the phone from a woman who’d provided “a good deal of financial information.”
My neighbor’s advice: Because title theft is a big issue, owners should check their properties – especially vacant houses and lots – to make sure they aren’t being marketed illegally. Look them up regularly on Zillow or other national websites.
Lew Sichelman has been covering real estate for more than 50 years. He is a regular contributor to numerous shelter magazines and housing and housing-finance industry publications. Readers can contact him at lsichelman@aol.com.
