We are interested in hearing from people who feel they have been ripped off by Equity Warehouse or Hard Money Placement. That is, persons who have paid a "due diligence fee" to either of these firms, on the basis of a mortgage "approval" and then were not able to close the loan because the firms ceased communications after receipt of the fee, failed to close the loan and appear to have "run off with the money".
There are several indications that both of these two firms are run by the same persons, and that the operation is based in Washington state, even though the firm(s) is/are registered in several states, including Washington, Wyoming, Nevada, etc. It is our suspicion that these firms operate behind the veil of a corporate agent in one state (allowing personal anonymity), until complaints build up against them...then they register the same company name in another state, and claim that "the other firm is just one of similar name".
It is our belief that the perpetrators of this fraud have violated federal as well as state law because similar, but larger, companies who seem to have defrauded other potential borrowers, in a similar manner, are being investigated by the FBI. Perhaps they are under the misconception that, due to commercial lending being relatively unregulated, that they can get away with anything. But, fraud is fraud and is illegal.
We are reviewing our legal remedies and options, and have initiated discussions with the Attorney General's offices of Washington and Wyoming, as well as the FBI offices for those states.
We are interested in hearing from specific persons who feel that one of these firms has taken advantage of them. If feel that you have been a victim of one of these firms, we would appreciate it if you would email the editors of RipOff Report and authorize them to forward your contact information to us. There is strength in numbers and we look forward to hearing from you.
Similarly, we specifically authorize RipOff Report to release our contact email to you. If, as anticipated, legal action is pursued, we welcome other victims to join the effort to recover funds paid under false pretenses and put scammers out of business, or even behind bars.