Feds mail more than $1M in refund checks for mortgage scheme

Consumers will receive a total $1 million in checks from a federal regulator as part of a crackdown on fraudulent mortgage schemes.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it mailed more than 17,000 checks – averaging at about $62.50 each – to refund consumers duped by a company claiming to provide government mortgage-relief products.

In 2011, a court banned the Residential Relief Foundation from selling any debt relief services and required them to pay the $1 million settlement.

The agency also took the opportunity to remind consumers that it “never requires consumers to pay money or provide information before refund checks can be cashed,” it wrote in the release.

Over the past several years, the FTC says it has filed more than 35 cases against mortgage relief scammers and has partnered with states to bring “hundreds” more lawsuits.

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