From Nevada Office of Attorney General 2 arrests in mortgage payment scam

OFFICEOF THEATTORNEYGENERAL


Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General

555 E. Washington Avenue, Suite 3900

Las Vegas, Nevada 89101

Telephone - (702) 486-3420

Fax - (702) 486-3283

Web - http://ag.state.nv.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Edie Cartwright

February 3, 2011 775.684.1189

TWO ARRESTS MADE IN

MORTGAGE PAYMENT THEFT SCAM

Las Vegas, NV – The Nevada Attorney General’s office announced today that Joseph Yorkus (age 49) and James Bartczak (age 48), both of Las Vegas, were arrested today for allegedly operating a scam intended to steal mortgage payments from homeowners.

It is alleged that Yorkus and Bartczak set up “Great Western Business Services” to steal homeowners’ mortgage payments by fraudulently claiming the mortgage holder’s loan servicer had changed. This scam would potentially result in putting the victim homeowners in default with their actual mortgage servicers.

“This type of corporate identity theft is devastating to the homeowner victim and to the true loan servicer, both of whom are harmed by these types of scams,” said Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

The scam involved sending letters to homeowners falsely stating that servicing of the homeowners’ loans had been transferred from Bank of America to Great Western Business Services. The letters instruct homeowners to send their mortgage payments to Great Western Business Services instead of the true servicer, Bank of America.

The alleged scam would result in victims unknowingly missing one or more mortgage payments which could result in a potential notice of default and foreclosure, despite the fact that the homeowner had actually made their payments, albeit to the scammers instead of their true loan servicer.

The case was investigated and is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force within the Bureau of Criminal Justice Fraud Division. The charges against the named individuals are merely allegations. The Defendants are presumed innocent until or unless proven otherwise in a court of law.

Anyone who has information regarding this case should contact the Attorney General’s Office at 702.486-3194 in Las Vegas or 775.684-1180 in Carson City.
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