Orlando-based Wineberg, Lopez & Rodriguez Co. appealed to Hispanics by advertising their financial rescue services on Spanish-speaking television and radio programs. Hipolita Roustand responded to one of their ads, and hired them to help modify her mortgage.

The 51-year-old professional housekeeper gave the firm her life’s savings of $700 in addition to biweekly payments of $260 – $1,995 in total. She figures she toiled over more than 20 jobs to pay the Wineberg firm. Roustand, along with hundreds of other homeowners who hired Winberg, received nothing in return.

Co-owners Freddy Lopez, Sr. and William Rodriguez were slapped with a lawsuit by the Attorney General’s Office in state circuit court. They are accused of collecting upfront fees from people to assist them with loan modification and foreclosure rescue. This violates the Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act that went into effect last October.

Rodriguez, who said he was a mortgage specialist, and Lopez, who claimed he was a real estate guru, are being charged with “deceptive and unfair trade practices.”

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office stated that many other companies like Wineberg that were being investigated had targeted Hispanics. Some of the businesses being prosecuted were even operated by them.

Based on predictions by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI) earlier this year, this kind of fraud was going to be the next prominent one that would surface in the mortgage industry – fraud against minorities. Schemers see disadvantaged people in dire straits and, like piranha to blood, seize the opportunity to defraud them.

Some, like Wineberg, Lopez & Rodriguez, see a niche where they can easily slip right into and not be quickly discovered. In total, the attorney general’s office received over 700 consumer complaints against the Wineberg firm alone.

There are currently 40 such companies being investigated in the State of Florida and 11 of those are in the Orlando area. Most have closed shop, but there are others that remain open and more are expected to surface in the future.

To obtain additional information about mortgage fraud, contact the State of Florida’s Attorney General’s Office as follows:

• Website – http://www.myfloridalegal.com/mortgagefraud

• Phone – (850) 414-3990

To report suspected fraud in the state of Florida, call the Fraud Hotline at 1-866-966-7226.