Fake "Underwriting" on Hold Music: Everett Call Center Manager Pleads Guilty in a $2.5 Million Mortgage Modification Scheme

Nobody's reviewing anything. The hold is the whole act.

What happened?

On January 26, 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced that Edwin Josue Herrera Rosales, also known as "Josh Herrera," 34, manager of an Everett, Washington call center, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The scheme went after about 1,000 distressed homeowners facing foreclosure. Sentencing was set for May 4, 2021, before U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour. The charge carries up to five years in prison.

How the scheme worked

According to records filed in the case:

• The call centers ran under the names "Sound Solutions Group," "Community Assistance Center" and California-based "Sienna Support Network."
• The operation sent about 4,000 mailers a week to distressed homeowners, saying they'd been "pre-approved" for a new government program. One mailer claimed it could cut a loan balance by over $140,000 and drop the interest rate to 2%.
• When homeowners called, operators followed a script to make it look like the company's "underwriting" and "legal department" were reviewing the loan. There was no legal staff and no underwriting department.
• Operators just put callers on hold for a set amount of time, then came back and said the caller was one of the "very select few" who qualified. The catch was a $3,000 upfront fee.
• If a homeowner balked, staff used another script with "hot button" statements to get them to sign.
• The call center used a phony address, and operators used aliases.
• Most customers saw no change in their payment, and some saw it go up.

Between March 2016 and May 2018, about 1,000 customers paid over $2.5 million. Herrera Rosales kept about $360,000. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated.

Here's the thing ...

The DOJ said it straight: it's impermissible under federal regulations to charge upfront fees for mortgage modification services.

That's the whole ballgame. People facing foreclosure are scared. They'll pay anything that sounds like hope. That's exactly why the rules ban taking the money first.

And the fake hold time? That's a script designed to deceive. Your scripts are evidence. Write them like a jury will read them, because one might.

And notice: these were inbound calls driven by mail. You don't need to make a single cold call to end up in a telemarketing fraud case.

What to do this week

• No upfront fees for mortgage relief. Period.
• Never claim government affiliation or "pre-approval" you can't back up.
• Kill any "hot button" pressure scripts.
• Use real names and real addresses. Aliases and fake addresses look terrible later.