Is this a scam?

[leftysright]

I found this "position" on craigslist as a lazy alternative to a typical summer job. Have any of you done this? Any past experiences from something similar? Whatt do you guys think? I've posted part of the email I received from them below:

Earn extra income working-at-home as a 3rd Party Tracer Processing
Mortgage Refunds (helping the Federal Government return unclaimed refunds)! The
position for Work From Home - Processing Mortgage Refunds that you inquired about
does require you to have a computer with email access. Printers are not at all
required but can be helpful. You can begin working FT or PT; the choice is up to
you. You will need minimal typing skills for this position. You will be processing
orders from your own computer. There is a price of $39.95 for the Processing
Mortgage Refunds Software that you will need to accomplish your tasks.


You are permitted to work on as many states as you want. However, we
suggest you start with one state (your own) till you get a hang of things. One state
can keep you busy daily. However, once you get going never limit yourself. The
entire U.S. can be your territory. You get paid 20%-30% of the refund. This will add
up to a significant amount of income considering what the average mortgage is. The
average check payment is $600.00. You are paid after you have Processed the Mortgage
Refund. You are paid from the claimant. We suggest you open an AlertPay account to
receive your funds but is not required. The list gets updated every month. There are
thousands of new cases added every month.

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
Earn extra income working-at-home

[/ QUOTE ]

is a scam 99.9999999% of the time

[Howard Beale]

What the heck is a mortgage refund? And from the Feds?

So: Scam for sure.

[Cry Me A River]

[ QUOTE ]

There is a price of $39.95 for the Processing
Mortgage Refunds Software that you will need to accomplish your tasks.


[/ QUOTE ]

Most legit jobs pay you, not the other way around.

[bobman0330]

seriously?

[meep_42]

If you have to ask, then it probably is.

-d

[youtalkfunny]

The old "Mortgage Insurance Refund" scam.

Back in the 80's, my brother and I were watching a late-night infomercial titled, "How to make $1000/day for Life". The con man was selling "Home Mortgage Insurance Refunds" kits.

First, he explained what mortgage insurance is (this definition courtesy Wiki):

Mortgage Life Insurance refers to an insurance policy that guarantees repayment of a mortgage loan in the event of death or, possibly, disability of the mortgagor. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) refers to protection for the lender in the event of default, usually covering a portion of the amount borrowed. There are Government loan products that also include a Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP), essentially the government equivalent of PMI.

For example, Mr. Smith obtains a mortgage loan that exceeds 80% of his property's value and/or sale price. Because of his limited equity, the lender requires that Mr. Smith pay for mortgage insurance that protects their institution against his default. To obtain a mortgage loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration, Mr. Smith must pay a mortgage insurance premium (MIP) equal to 1.5 percent of the loan amount at closing. This premium is normally financed by the lender and paid to FHA on the borrower's behalf. Depending on the loan-to-value ratio, there may be a monthly premium as well.

The conman on the infomercial told us that there are millions of people in this country who've purchased mortgage insurance from the FHA. For some reason or other, these people paid too much over a long period of time, and are owed a refund of thousands of dollars. For some other reason, the government does not tell these people that they have this money coming.

That's where you come in. You write the FHA, and ask them for a list of all the people in your state (or any state) who have a refund coming. Under The Freedom of Information Act, they have to provide you with this list upon request.

Now you've got a list of people, and the amount that they are owed. Mr ConMan tells us that all we have to do is contact these people, and tell them that the Federal government owes them a refund, and we can help them get that refund; we want no money up front, we are willing to work on a contingency basis, such as 1/3rd. Of course, we are careful not to mention the FHA, or anything about mortgages or insurance. If we did, these people wouldn't need us.

Mr ConMan told us that we can expect to earn an average of $200 for every person on that list that we contact. Some will ignore us, and others will hire us, and on average, we can expect $200 a shot. If we contact five people a day--just write letters to five names from a list--we can easily make $1000 a day for as long as we like, as the government owes millions of people refunds.

For $39.99, Mr ConMan will send us:

--The FHA's address, and a sample letter to send them to request the info we need ("It is imperative that this letter is worded properly, or else they won't send any info...")

--A sample letter to send Mr Smith, telling him of the windfall that is waiting for him, as long as he's willing to cut us in on it.

--A second letter to send to Mr Smith, in case he ignores your first letter.

--A sales pitch to memorize, for your first meeting with Mr Smith.

--A sample contract for you and Mr Smith to sign.

--A sample "Specific Power of Attorney", authorizing you to represent Mr Smith in the matter of obtaining his refund.

--If there was more, I can't recall.

I told my brother, "You send this guy the $39.99, and I'll do all the work, and we'll split whatever we make." My brother shocked me by saying, "OK."

I excitedly perused the material when it arrived. I immediately sent the Freedom of Information Act letter to the FHA.

It took months to get a reply. And the reply was practically useless. Instead of a neat list of names, addresses, and refund amounts, I got partial names, and OLD addresses--Mr Smith is getting a refund because he SOLD the property. The FHA has the property's address, but they have no idea where Mr Smith went after he sold his house. If they knew that, they'd send him his refund!

I didn't know that the day my $39.99 bundle of info arrived. I was excitedly typing all those sample letters on my Commodore64, which I planned to use to print out hundreds of letters. My Dad asked me what I was doing. I gave him a full explanation of the operation.

DAD: (smirking) You paid $40 for this?

ME: Jimmy did. We're partners. He put up the money, I do the work, and we split whatever we make.

DAD: Where's Jimmy now?

ME: He's upstairs, sleeping.

DAD: (walks to the bottom of the stairs, and shouts up) SUCKER!

JIMMY: (awakens) Huh?

DAD: SUCK-KERRRRR! SUCKER!

JIMMY: (stumbles out into the hall) You calling me, Dad?

DAD: SUCKER! SUCKER!!!

JIMMY: What?

DAD: SUCKER!!!

(It's funnier if you can hear my Dad's Boston accent: "Suck-ahhh! Suckah!")

I never sent out a single letter. I had no idea where to send them.

[youtalkfunny]

I just googled "mortgage insurance refund scam". There are still companies selling the $39.99 package--but at least now they're upfront about telling you that the FHA doesn't have Mr Smith's current address.

At least you have the internet to help find him. All I had was a Commodore64.