How Low Can You Go?

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Barbara Barkley lost her house and her savings to a group of California scam artists who stole $11 million from thousands of struggling homeowners looking for help with their mortgages.

Questions:
1. Who was the ringleader of the scam and what sentence does he face?
2. How did the scam work?
3. Why wasn’t there anything they could do after being scammed?
4. What type of due diligence should the homeowners have undertaken on the front end, before being defrauded?

Source:
Weiner, R. (2017). ‘Honey, you’ve been scammed,’ she was told. She lost her home of 30 years. The Washington Post, July 29 (Retrievable online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/honey-youve-been-scammed-she-was-told-she-lost-her-home-of-30-years/2017/07/26/36afedda-7070-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.82eb534134b6)