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Scam Alert: Reverse Mortgage Seduction

February 9, 2009

The timing of the green post card from National Data Research couldn't be better. With its bold headline, New Government Program for Seniors Over 62, the unsolicited mailing offers some welcome promises in these tough economic times: the chance to pay off existing mortgages and credit card debt, make home repairs and renovations, even the ability to enhance your lifestyle.

Just sign the postage-paid card, list your phone number and your age and your spouse's, and you'll receive "free information about how much money you qualify for." After all, the card notes, "It is your Legal Right as a United States Taxpayer to receive all the Information available to you."

What is not disclosed anywhere on the post card is its real purpose: to collect your contact information so it can be sold to vendors of reverse mortgages. And from there, it could be sold to other salesmen, resulting in unwanted mail and telephone solicitations.

Although there is nothing illegal about selling reverse mortgages, which let property owners collect money borrowed against equity they've acquired in their homes, this recent mailing is another example of correspondence that masquerades as official government offerings when it's anything but.

In this case, National Data Research is another official-sounding name used by Acc-U-Lead, a Texas-based company with a long history of mailing what authorities call deceptive mailings that target older citizens.

To read more... go to bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/scamalert/articles/scam_alert_reverse_mortgage_seduction.html

References:
Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC)
February 2009
www.pueblo.gsa.gov
AARP Bulletin Today
bulletin.aarp.org

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