(LAKE COUNTY, IN) - Three out-of-state companies, which may or may not be real, have used the complexities of a tax sale to cheat Lake County residents out of surplus money they were entitled to from the sale of their property.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the three companies and their owners for allegedly working in concert to perpetrate the scheme.
Zoeller says these companies realize that a lot of people are unaware that the homeowner is entitled to their surplus, so and the company steps in and pays up to $400 or $500 dollars in cash to get a quitclaim deed to speed up their ability to move into the home. Zoeller says it's misrepresented that there's no value in the home for the owner doing the selling.
Zoeller says his office is having a difficult time finding a real company behind the scheme, so it's safe to assume scam artists have created these fictitious companies to perpetuate the scam.
Zoeller says anyone who receives a notice of a tax sale should immediately call their auditor. That office will inform you of different options you have in saving your home. The homeowner could also go to Indiana Legal Services Corporation, or a number of other pro bono institutions will help people save their home.
