The Federal Trade Commission convinced a U.S. district court to shut down a phony mortgage assistance operation that claimed to be headquartered in Chicago.
The Spanish-speaking telemarketers were actually based in the Dominican Republic and sold fake mortgage help to distressed homeowners, according to the FTC.
The court issued a restraining order against the unnamed firmed, which claimed to be affiliated with Federal mortgage assistance programs.
According to a statement from the FTC, the Dominican operation claimed it could help homeowners lower their monthly mortgage payments, and collected more than $2 million in fees in the past three years in order to do so.
The FTC said the help never came, as promised.