If you’re one of the homeowners whose homes are about to go in foreclosures, then you must probably be looking for a solution to avoid it. But beware of those people or foreclosure consulting firms whom you’ll be approaching because some of them may try to deceive you, like what Rene Alvarez, co-owner of the M&R Contemporary Solutions Inc., and Mariano Ortega did to hundreds of homeowners.

Rene Alvarez was already arrested but Mariano Ortega is still on the loose. These men have carried out a wide ranging loan modification scam where they defrauded homeowners with homes on the brink of foreclosure. Alvarez and Ortega offered these homeowners a principal reduction program where a third party would purchase their existing loan to rescue their homes from foreclosure. The homeowners would be paying this third party for a “discounted price” which lessens their monthly payments. This scam has collected about $2,000,000 from the advance payments but never actually paid for the homeowners’ mortgage loans.

The court has frozen the bank accounts of M&R Contemporary Solutions Inc. for a possible sentence of restitution. This sentence will return all the money that Alvarez and Ortega have collected from the homeowners.