Who kicks a guy when he's down? During these hard financial times, unfortunately, lots of people. But today, one of the most frequently targeted groups, foreclosure victims, is getting a fair shake in civil court. Thanks to a Federal Trade Commission investigation, nearly 1,500 victims of foreclosure rescue scam fraud will be reimbursed for a portion of their losses. Jorgen Wouters from our sister site, WalletPop, has the full story.
Nearly 1,500 consumers ripped off by a mortgage loan modification and foreclosure rescue scam will be receiving refund checks from the Federal Trade Commission.
The ringleader of the scam, Bryan D'Antonio, has run afoul of the FTC more than once since 1999 for defrauding consumers and violating court-ordered bans against telemarketing.
Some 1,455 victims of D'Antonio's latest scam,Tax Relief ASAP, will receive checks averaging approximately 24% of their total losses. But that won't be much comfort to victims who lost their homes to foreclosure by falling for his bogus foreclosure rescue scheme.
D'Antonio's first run-in with the FTC occurred in 1999, when the agency filed a complaint against him and his company, Data Medical Capital, Inc. for running a work-from home telemarketing scheme. The FTC accused D'Antonio of lying to consumers by promising them incomes of at least $23,400 per year by purchasing his medical billing work-at-home program.
Very few consumers who bought into his work-at-home scheme, the FTC said, were able to generate clients, start a business or earn any money. D'Antonio settled with the FTC in 2001 and was fined more than $600,000 to reimburse his victims. He was also banned for life from marketing business ventures, employment opportunities, work-at-home opportunities and telemarketing
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