July 1, 2025 • 5 mins
Troy Baker, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Market Expansion with the Better Business Bureau of Michigan joins us to discuss a new scam targeting mortgage payments for homeowners.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The stuff that comes in the mail looks so convincing,
and if it's to save money, who wouldn't want to
check out more information as a big scam going on.
Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Troy Baker with the Better
Business Bureau of Michigan back in studio in West Michigan's
Morning News. Thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Absolutely, thanks for having me the person.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
The people that I worry the most about this are
like my parents' age and specifically if they're single, right,
if they lost a spouse. They're trying real hard not
to overburden their kids with stuff, so they want to
independently look things in. My gosh, they can get into
a lot of trouble. So what is this scam going on?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, So the scam that we're talking about right now
is an offer to reduce your mortgage payments. So there's
a government program that can reduce your mortgage payments. It
looks kind of official. It's got a lot of your
own information about your mortgage, your property, things that a
lot of people don't realize really is out there and
pretty public and available. They think it's information, so it
(01:01):
has to be true. But at the end of the day.
It's said all that it's if it sounds too good
to be true. In this case, its yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And the thing about that is if you want to
get on a list, apply for a loan, for a house,
for a business, for anything, and all of a sudden,
you're going to be deluged with other offers that are
out there.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
But people don't understand that. People think that that's private information.
So the only people that would know how much my
mortgage is for is my mortgage company. So if I
get something that has that, it has to be from them.
They don't realize, No, that's out there. There's there's data companies,
there's marketing companies, there's you know, public information from the
county clerk's office. There's lots of ways that information gets
(01:44):
out there. So people need to understand that just because
it's there doesn't mean it's legitimate.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
So is the rule of double checks in play here.
And what I mean by that is the fact that
you and we've talked about it before, certain agencies they
won't call you. They say we're not going to call you.
It'll always be you know this, or officially through the
mail or whatever. So if you get something in the mail,
Is it worthwhile to try to call that company and
ask some questions and be legit or is that something
(02:10):
that you should stay away from.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So absolutely, but not using the not using the contexts
that are on that suspicious paperwork, right, call you know,
if it says it's from a bank, call that bank.
Pull out your debit card and call the phone number
on the back. You know that's your bank. Look it
up and you know, go down to the branch office
if you need to. So in a case like this,
it said it was a government program, right, that actually
(02:31):
doesn't exist. A Google search would have told you there
is no government program like this. If it says it's
a government program, it's from a government agency, call that
government agency. Do some of that research to make sure Because,
like you said, Steve, a lot of people are trying
to make ends meet. It sounds like a great thing
(02:52):
to save this money. That's how they get in trouble.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And we do these conversations. We have these kind of
stitions with you a lot, and it's sort of like
a traffic problem. You don't think about it until you're
in the middle of the traffic problem. So you're like,
this would never happen to me, and then suddenly you're
taking gift cards to a Walgreens and you're trying to
pay your mortgage from some cap that says you're going
(03:19):
to a collection agency. It just makes no sense. But
people fall for this every day.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
They fall for it every day, and anybody you and
I could end up falling for it. In the right circumstance.
They catch you on the right day. Maybe you just
had a fight with somebody you care about, Maybe you
just work long hours and you're tired. They catch you
in a vulnerable moment. We all have them. They catch
you in that vulnerable moment, and with the right pitch
(03:47):
and the right wording, it can get you. So that's
why it's so important to take your time. Have somebody
that you can talk to, somebody you trust, somebody that
you're going to be vulnerable with and say, hey, take
a look at this. What do you think You're gonna
feel bad if they say, well, that's of course, that's
a scam. You know what, are you stupid? If they're
really honest with you and it's a good friend, but
(04:08):
you're gonna feel a whole lot worse if you lose
four grand Dude.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Totally well, and that's why to Steve's point, you know,
we both have moms now that are just singles. You know,
the spouses have passed away, and so they're taking on
all this responsibility. Maybe they didn't before because their spouse did,
and there's no shame in that. That's what I for
people that are listening out there, like you said, this
can happen to anybody. I think they feel worse about
it at their rage, like, oh, I'm becoming incompetent. No,
(04:33):
that's why give the information again. Contact you. I mean,
the Better Business Bureau is a safe resource that's there
and they understand it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
They deal with it every day, absolutely, and we are
that resource. If you have something you're not sure if
it's real or not, call us. Yeah, reach out to us,
send us an email with a photo of it. We're
happy to take a look and tell you what we
think and what we have seen. Report it to our
scam tracker BBB dot org slash scam tracker. You can
report scams. You can see what else is being reported.
(05:01):
You can do a little search and see has other
people offered this and seen this as a scam. Just
do some of that research and protect yourself is the
biggest piece of advice I can give.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
We will get the podcast up and this link in
it as well. Troy Baker is the vice president of
Strategic Partnerships. Thank you for coming in again today
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Thanks for having me
The stuff that comes in the mail looks so convincing,
and if it's to save money, who wouldn't want to
check out more information as a big scam going on.
Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Troy Baker with the Better
Business Bureau of Michigan back in studio in West Michigan's
Morning News. Thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Absolutely, thanks for having me the person.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
The people that I worry the most about this are
like my parents' age and specifically if they're single, right,
if they lost a spouse. They're trying real hard not
to overburden their kids with stuff, so they want to
independently look things in. My gosh, they can get into
a lot of trouble. So what is this scam going on?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, So the scam that we're talking about right now
is an offer to reduce your mortgage payments. So there's
a government program that can reduce your mortgage payments. It
looks kind of official. It's got a lot of your
own information about your mortgage, your property, things that a
lot of people don't realize really is out there and
pretty public and available. They think it's information, so it
(01:01):
has to be true. But at the end of the day.
It's said all that it's if it sounds too good
to be true. In this case, its yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And the thing about that is if you want to
get on a list, apply for a loan, for a house,
for a business, for anything, and all of a sudden,
you're going to be deluged with other offers that are
out there.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
But people don't understand that. People think that that's private information.
So the only people that would know how much my
mortgage is for is my mortgage company. So if I
get something that has that, it has to be from them.
They don't realize, No, that's out there. There's there's data companies,
there's marketing companies, there's you know, public information from the
county clerk's office. There's lots of ways that information gets
(01:44):
out there. So people need to understand that just because
it's there doesn't mean it's legitimate.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
So is the rule of double checks in play here.
And what I mean by that is the fact that
you and we've talked about it before, certain agencies they
won't call you. They say we're not going to call you.
It'll always be you know this, or officially through the
mail or whatever. So if you get something in the mail,
Is it worthwhile to try to call that company and
ask some questions and be legit or is that something
(02:10):
that you should stay away from.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So absolutely, but not using the not using the contexts
that are on that suspicious paperwork, right, call you know,
if it says it's from a bank, call that bank.
Pull out your debit card and call the phone number
on the back. You know that's your bank. Look it
up and you know, go down to the branch office
if you need to. So in a case like this,
it said it was a government program, right, that actually
(02:31):
doesn't exist. A Google search would have told you there
is no government program like this. If it says it's
a government program, it's from a government agency, call that
government agency. Do some of that research to make sure Because,
like you said, Steve, a lot of people are trying
to make ends meet. It sounds like a great thing
(02:52):
to save this money. That's how they get in trouble.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And we do these conversations. We have these kind of
stitions with you a lot, and it's sort of like
a traffic problem. You don't think about it until you're
in the middle of the traffic problem. So you're like,
this would never happen to me, and then suddenly you're
taking gift cards to a Walgreens and you're trying to
pay your mortgage from some cap that says you're going
(03:19):
to a collection agency. It just makes no sense. But
people fall for this every day.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
They fall for it every day, and anybody you and
I could end up falling for it. In the right circumstance.
They catch you on the right day. Maybe you just
had a fight with somebody you care about, Maybe you
just work long hours and you're tired. They catch you
in a vulnerable moment. We all have them. They catch
you in that vulnerable moment, and with the right pitch
(03:47):
and the right wording, it can get you. So that's
why it's so important to take your time. Have somebody
that you can talk to, somebody you trust, somebody that
you're going to be vulnerable with and say, hey, take
a look at this. What do you think You're gonna
feel bad if they say, well, that's of course, that's
a scam. You know what, are you stupid? If they're
really honest with you and it's a good friend, but
(04:08):
you're gonna feel a whole lot worse if you lose
four grand Dude.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Totally well, and that's why to Steve's point, you know,
we both have moms now that are just singles. You know,
the spouses have passed away, and so they're taking on
all this responsibility. Maybe they didn't before because their spouse did,
and there's no shame in that. That's what I for
people that are listening out there, like you said, this
can happen to anybody. I think they feel worse about
it at their rage, like, oh, I'm becoming incompetent. No,
(04:33):
that's why give the information again. Contact you. I mean,
the Better Business Bureau is a safe resource that's there
and they understand it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
They deal with it every day, absolutely, and we are
that resource. If you have something you're not sure if
it's real or not, call us. Yeah, reach out to us,
send us an email with a photo of it. We're
happy to take a look and tell you what we
think and what we have seen. Report it to our
scam tracker BBB dot org slash scam tracker. You can
report scams. You can see what else is being reported.
(05:01):
You can do a little search and see has other
people offered this and seen this as a scam. Just
do some of that research and protect yourself is the
biggest piece of advice I can give.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
We will get the podcast up and this link in
it as well. Troy Baker is the vice president of
Strategic Partnerships. Thank you for coming in again today
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Thanks for having me
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