Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Six, twenty three, now here in Houston's Morning News. Yep,
this is a scary story. A retired Houston g h
ISD teacher had her stole home stolen liberally out from
underneath her I guess this is a title company scam.
Let's ask Harris County Attorney Christian Menapie, how did this happen? Christian?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What we saw here was an individual in our community
who had lived in the same house since nineteen seventy seven.
A retired teacher was getting some home repairs done to
her home, and eventually the contractor company required her to
dead her house to them so that they could use
it to get alan in order to complete the work,
and then they beat it the home to someone else
(00:41):
who held it for a few months and then deeded
it back to the company. All this resulted in this
elderly woman, who again had lived here since nineteen seventy seven,
being without her home. It's a tragic story, and I
think it's a testament to how scammers are trying to
take advantage of the most vulnerable people in our community.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Have we seen an uptake in these types of stories?
Are we seeing more more of these home theft sort
of scams. We seem to hear stories of the people
or who are particularly vulnerable. People have vacation homes, for example,
maybe they don't live in it all the time. They
don't necessarily other than paying the proper taxes, they don't
really keep up with what's going on with the title
on their home.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, these stories are becoming more and more prevalent here
in Harris County. Just last year, my office filed a
lawsuit against the title company that was using any number
of scams to steal people's homes out from under them,
and in other instances they would take people's escraw money
and then run with it. When we filt this lawsuit,
the owner of the company filed for personal bankruptcy, but
she was I guess social media famous, and it had
(01:38):
run the scheme across our county. So we're seeing more
in uptick and these types of scams as well as
other scams as we approach the holiday season. So what
we at the Harris County Attorney's Office want is for
people in Harris County to be diligent, to take steps
to protect yourself and go to scam FREEHC dot com
for tips to protect yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And to report fraudulent activity.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, let's talk about some of those tips. Because you're
mentioning a couple of title companies. Evidently not everybody in
the titled company business is scrupulous. So how do we
spot one that is going to potentially be a fraudulent
company or somebody who might do something like this to us.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, one great thing that's happened recently is the FTC
has banned people putting fake reviews out for the company,
and so in many instances, consumers would go to see
the reviews to ensure that it's a good company and
they would be scanned in that sense. So check the reviews,
check the Better Business.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Bureau, but be on the lookout.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
For unique business practices like asking you to deed your
home or to make some sort of commitment that would
put your home as collateral for work done to your home.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Is very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Anytime people are doing something that's outside of the norm
to get your personal identifying information or to get an
ownership stake in your home, very dangerous.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Check people's references right when.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You put work out, put it out to bid, have
multiple companies bid on it, make them submit references, talk
to their references to make sure that they're doing good work.
We see is more often than not, when people go
with the first company that shows up at their door,
they're more susceptible to these types of scams.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You clearly never signed your title over to anybody else,
unless unless you are selling your home and you are
at closing, right.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's exactly right, and I think that's one of the
reasons why we see these companies prey on some of
our most vulnerable communities. You know, you may have an
elderly person who's never had work done on their home,
so they don't know that this is a that that
would be an odd thing for someone to ask for.
So that's why we think it's so important that you
talk to people's references, that you know more about a
company before you engage with them.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
All right, Kristin, what's the website again for people to
get those tips.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It's scamfreehd dot com.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And not only can you get tips about how to
protect yourself in these types of deed scams, but there's
another of other scams that people run on our communities,
especially during the holiday season. So as you're going into
Cyber Monday and Black Friday, it's important to be in
a position to protect yourself.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
All right, counselor, thanks for joining US. Harris County Attorney
Christian Menefee. It is six twenty six
Six, twenty three, now here in Houston's Morning News. Yep,
this is a scary story. A retired Houston g h
ISD teacher had her stole home stolen liberally out from
underneath her I guess this is a title company scam.
Let's ask Harris County Attorney Christian Menapie, how did this happen? Christian?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What we saw here was an individual in our community
who had lived in the same house since nineteen seventy seven.
A retired teacher was getting some home repairs done to
her home, and eventually the contractor company required her to
dead her house to them so that they could use
it to get alan in order to complete the work,
and then they beat it the home to someone else
(00:41):
who held it for a few months and then deeded
it back to the company. All this resulted in this
elderly woman, who again had lived here since nineteen seventy seven,
being without her home. It's a tragic story, and I
think it's a testament to how scammers are trying to
take advantage of the most vulnerable people in our community.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Have we seen an uptake in these types of stories?
Are we seeing more more of these home theft sort
of scams. We seem to hear stories of the people
or who are particularly vulnerable. People have vacation homes, for example,
maybe they don't live in it all the time. They
don't necessarily other than paying the proper taxes, they don't
really keep up with what's going on with the title
on their home.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, these stories are becoming more and more prevalent here
in Harris County. Just last year, my office filed a
lawsuit against the title company that was using any number
of scams to steal people's homes out from under them,
and in other instances they would take people's escraw money
and then run with it. When we filt this lawsuit,
the owner of the company filed for personal bankruptcy, but
she was I guess social media famous, and it had
(01:38):
run the scheme across our county. So we're seeing more
in uptick and these types of scams as well as
other scams as we approach the holiday season. So what
we at the Harris County Attorney's Office want is for
people in Harris County to be diligent, to take steps
to protect yourself and go to scam FREEHC dot com
for tips to protect yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And to report fraudulent activity.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, let's talk about some of those tips. Because you're
mentioning a couple of title companies. Evidently not everybody in
the titled company business is scrupulous. So how do we
spot one that is going to potentially be a fraudulent
company or somebody who might do something like this to us.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, one great thing that's happened recently is the FTC
has banned people putting fake reviews out for the company,
and so in many instances, consumers would go to see
the reviews to ensure that it's a good company and
they would be scanned in that sense. So check the reviews,
check the Better Business.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Bureau, but be on the lookout.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
For unique business practices like asking you to deed your
home or to make some sort of commitment that would
put your home as collateral for work done to your home.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Is very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Anytime people are doing something that's outside of the norm
to get your personal identifying information or to get an
ownership stake in your home, very dangerous.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Check people's references right when.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You put work out, put it out to bid, have
multiple companies bid on it, make them submit references, talk
to their references to make sure that they're doing good work.
We see is more often than not, when people go
with the first company that shows up at their door,
they're more susceptible to these types of scams.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You clearly never signed your title over to anybody else,
unless unless you are selling your home and you are
at closing, right.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's exactly right, and I think that's one of the
reasons why we see these companies prey on some of
our most vulnerable communities. You know, you may have an
elderly person who's never had work done on their home,
so they don't know that this is a that that
would be an odd thing for someone to ask for.
So that's why we think it's so important that you
talk to people's references, that you know more about a
company before you engage with them.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
All right, Kristin, what's the website again for people to
get those tips.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It's scamfreehd dot com.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And not only can you get tips about how to
protect yourself in these types of deed scams, but there's
another of other scams that people run on our communities,
especially during the holiday season. So as you're going into
Cyber Monday and Black Friday, it's important to be in
a position to protect yourself.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
All right, counselor, thanks for joining US. Harris County Attorney
Christian Menefee. It is six twenty six
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