In recent posts I’ve discussed the debt elimination scam in the context of unsecured debt. That’s where the con artists claim you can magically erase unsecured debt (credit cards, etc.) based on the absurd “no money lent” argument. Would you believe the same scam is being perpetrated for secured debt? We’re talking home mortgages here, and yes, believe it or not, there are dozens of websites promoting this dangerous fraud.

But the good news is that the scammers behind one such bogus company are sitting in jail awaiting trial. Kurt Johnson and Dale Scott Heineman of the “Dorean Group” managed to convince 574 homeowners to participate in this scam. For attempting to defraud lenders of nearly $100 million in mortgages, these two criminals are charged with 68 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, mail fraud, and contempt of court. Conviction will bring prison sentences of up to 30 years. Naturally, these scammers are following a typical post-arrest pattern: They blame their downfall on the conspiracy of the banking cabal that secretly controls the world’s currencies. In other words, these guys are card-carrying members of the lunatic fringe.

It’s nice to see the authorities take down these clowns, but it’s probably too late for many of their victims. Many of those people will lose their homes to foreclosure as a result of this fraud. You have to ask yourself: How could people fall for this? How could you expect to stop paying your mortgage and still keep your house? Worse, the scammers were promising not only to wipe out current mortgages, but to then go back to the well for equity funding of $50,000, which they would then split with their “customers.” I can only shake my head in disbelief that anyone would be gullible enough to fall for this. Sad, but true.