The Blue Crown Capital Management Specialists: Real Estate: Avoid these common mortgage scams

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In this March 15, 2008 file photo, a realtor's sign is seen on the lawn of a foreclosed home in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. The sluggish economy and slowly recovering housing market create the perfect environment for mortgage scams, with desperate homeowners as easy prey for scammers.

The sluggish economy and slowly recovering housing market create the perfect environment for mortgage scams, with desperate homeowners as easy prey for scammers.

The crooks make the deal sound attractive and legit. Thousands of homeowners are duped in mortgage scams each year, and con artists don't have to look far for victims, says Yolanda McGill, senior counsel for the Fair Housing & Fair Lending Project, an initiative by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C.

Most of the victims reach out to the scammers themselves through Internet searches, she says.