Talk:Mortgage advisers attempt to collect rent from neighbors after FBI raid in Union City, California

Notes

I have a friend who works at a company in the same office park mentioned in the article. His firm received the letters, and he scanned them and emailed them to me. He wishes to remain anonymous, and the letters are copyrighted material, so I cannot post them. However, I do swear on my honor as a Wikinews writer that I am quoting the documents accurately and endeavoring to describe them in context as well as I am able. Pingswept 03:30, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

This is another clear-cut case of fair use. More importantly, it would be a public service to redact the name and suite number of your friend with some permanent marker, and then post the rest of the letter online to help warn the public of this scam.

It is outrageous that these two men are running a scam which causes people to lose their homes, but they are not yet in jail. In case anyone has any doubts about the seriousness of this crime:

"...U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco, ruling in a suit between the Dorean duo and some lenders, called the operation 'an elaborate Internet scam.' Alsup had a copy of his order sent to the U.S. attorney in San Francisco." - Sacramento Bee

Since Wikinews continues to be hobbled by a lack of its own image repository, feel free to e-mail a redacted scan to me and I will be happy to host it online on my own site, and you can then point to it as a source. — DV 06:42, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

Interesting

Very interesting story. The fact the FBI apparantly didn't charge anyone with fraud may mean this company's activity is not easily proven to be illegal; also the letter seems to indicate they used their technique to take possession of the building their offices are in. Some US property law is extremely weird. In some states if someone pays the taxes for 20 years they own the property.In Oregon some counties issue tax bills on properties that don't exist yet(are just lines in a developer's proposal)Then,after the proposal is abandoned or rejected, the tax bills still exist indefinitely(believe it or not). Con-men buy the right to pay the taxes and turn around and sell the non-existant properties on a "buyer beware" basis;using the tax bills as "proof" the property is real.In Florida,when an "alien" sells property,the real estate agent(and/or title lawyer) is supposed to hold onto 10% of the sale price for the IRS...and nobody tells the alien this is going to happen when he first buys the property.

Wow, this is a very interesting story. Paulrevere2005 11:13, 6 May 2005 (UTC)