{"id":67083,"date":"2020-04-01T13:47:33","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/?p=67083"},"modified":"2020-04-01T13:47:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:47:33","slug":"scammers-try-to-dupe-homeowners-who-need-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/?p=67083","title":{"rendered":"Scammers Try to Dupe Homeowners Who Need Help"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field field--name-field-summary field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field--item\">Scammers love stressed people in need, and they\u2019ve deployed a range of spoofing and other tactics that offer financial aid to panicked homeowners.<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field--item\">\n<p>NEW YORK \u2013 Scam artists see struggling homeowners as easy marks right now, and they\u2019re reportedly using multiple methods, including spoofing tactics, to trick them using offers of financial aid.<\/p>\n<p>Freddie Mac warned this week of a scam: Borrowers were receiving fraudulent calls supposedly from Freddie Mac and being offered low interest rates and other false promises. Freddie Mac says it never reaches out to consumers over the phone with a refinancing opportunity or a new loan offer.<\/p>\n<p>Knowing that some homeowners are struggling economically thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers may call owners with offers of immediate relief from foreclosure or help with programs that can temporarily suspend their mortgage payments.<\/p>\n<p>Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and many private lenders actually are offering programs to help homeowners have trouble right now \u2013 but those calls need to be initiated by the owner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID in an effort to disguise their identity while pretending to be someone else,\u201d Freddie Mac warns in a statement about the growing scam. Through spoofing, a homeowner\u2019s cell phone could actually say the call is coming from Freddie Mac.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring times of distress, it is important to be on your guard against fraud schemes,\u201d Freddie Mac says in a post.<\/p>\n<p>Tips from Freddie Mac to help homeowners avoid being scammed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If a call comes from an unknown number, let it go to voicemail. If it\u2019s important, the caller will leave a message.<\/li>\n<li>If you answer and receive a robocall, don\u2019t press any numbers. Hang up.<\/li>\n<li>Never give out any personal, financial, or other sensitive information unless you\u2019ve verified the caller is a legitimate source.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Be cautious of numbers on your caller ID since scammers can make any name or number appear<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scammers love stressed people in need, and they\u2019ve deployed a range of spoofing and other tactics that offer financial aid to panicked homeowners. NEW YORK \u2013 Scam artists see struggling homeowners as easy marks right now, and they\u2019re reportedly using multiple methods, including spoofing tactics, to trick them using offers of financial aid. Freddie Mac [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67084,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67083\/revisions\/67084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}