Accused Mortgage Scammer Loses His Wacky Website After Court Order

Accused mortgage-modification fraudster Howard Shmuckler has lost the website he used to call his accusers “the real scammers.”

Even though Shmuckler had been indicted and repeatedly sued for charging homeowners for modifications he never delivered, he maintained his website until a court order went against him earlier this month.

Shmuckler charged homeowners thousands of dollars in upfront fees on the promise he would get them mortgage modifications to help them stay out of foreclosure. Yet, hundreds of his clients never received mods, according to the Maryland government and attorneys representing homeowners in Virginia, where the now-defunct Shmuckler Group had been based. But, at www.HowardShmuckler.com -- which redirected to www.TheyKilledTheSavior.com -- Shmuckler insisted that he'd been a savior for more than 900 homeowners.

"No, Howard Shmuckler cannot, does not and never claimed to grant Eternal Salvation or save a Soul from Eternal Damnation," Shmuckler's site said. "Did Howard Shmuckler and The Shmuckler Group, LLC save nearly a thousand (1,000) HONEST families from being out on the street - from being evicted from their homes once they fell behind on their mortgage payments? YOU BET HE DID!"

The Federal Trade Commission outlawed upfront fees for mortgage assistance services at the beginning of 2011 in an effort to shut down a growing industry that preys on struggling homeowners unable to win help from indifferent banks and mortgage-servicing companies. Homeowners who want help dealing with their lenders can get free assistance from housing counselors certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Virginia resident Hassina Ansary sued Shmuckler in 2009 for charging her $2,000, but doing nothing while her home slid into foreclosure. A Virginia jury took her side and order Shmuckler to fork over $686,600. Instead, he paid her a tribute on his website, with a picture of the "evil monkey" from the TV-series "Family Guy" pointing an accusatory finger at a picture of Ansary. The header on the page warned: "BEWARE - THE REAL SCAMMERS." The page also included a long list of names, presumably former clients, described as "FRAUD MASTERS."

Shmuckler's site accused Ansary of receiving rental income from investment properties, which Ansary denied in the defamation suit that resulted in the site going down earlier this month. A Virginia judge ruled in Ansary's favor, and Ansary's attorney said she entered into separate agreements with the companies that hosted the site.

Shmuckler, who previously told The Huffington Post to check out his site in lieu of an interview, could not be reached on Monday.

In an ironic twist, Shmuckler is now fighting to save his own home: Last summer Ansary filed a civil complaint to force him to sell his Virginia Beach house to pay the judgment she'd been awarded as a victim of his scam.

Comments

[Al Shmuckler]

07:57 PM on 05/03/2011

WOW He saved my home.

[cats530]

04:42 PM on 04/26/2011

"It’s the bankers that led us to this crisis… they trained their loan officers to scam and then abandoned them after the meltdown, as well. Homeowners are paying the bill for both, and until our government regulators come to grips with what’s really going on here, the scams will proliferate freely, home process will continue to fall, and our economy will deal out paid more broadly. And all I want to know is… for what?"

http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2011/04/they-once-were-lenders-understanding-governments-failure-to-stop-bankers-or-scammers-from-destroying-homeowners/

[Sennin]

03:49 PM on 04/26/2011

I fell for an internet scam, but I got a refund. Never again, internet, never again.

[Sennin]

03:47 PM on 04/26/2011

Shmuckler LOL

[studmoose]

10:46 AM on 04/26/2011

Is that a joke name?

[fineartgalaxy]

07:59 AM on 04/26/2011

And unfortunately, many lawyers do the same thing. They have a building full of clerks doing the modifications. They often have no clue as to what is really going on with the banks. You start with one clerk and by the next week the clerk is gone and the next one wants to start the paperwork again. And God forbid if you want to see the attorney face to face. They will ask you "why is it that you want to see Mr ......? Well, because he is charging $2500.00
This is the current modification trend:
2% for the first 5 years.
3% on the 6th year.
4% on the 7th year.
Then the current interest rate at the time of the modification trial for the remaining term.
All of the above is P and I plus escrow for RE taxes and HOI.
All of the above capped at 31% of you gross income. Please note it is gross, not net.
Any amounts you owe in mortgage payments at the time the modification trial starts are added at the end of the mortgage in terms of years. The entire term maybe 32 or more years. Any amounts you owe in RE taxes and HOI at the time the modification starts you will pay in 60 months, in addition to the above.

[MFI-Miami]

07:58 AM on 04/26/2011

There are two problems with going to the non-profits that offer "free" services. The first being that they get their money from the banks so they're not going to want to upset the bank if homeowner is a victim of predatory lending or refer a homeowner to an attorney out of fear of losing their funding. Second, the people who work for the housing non-profits really have no idea what they are doing when it comes to negotiating with a lender.

[Peter Combs]

12:05 AM on 04/26/2011

Schmuckler's name tells the tale....he is a real SChmuck...

[8thplane]

09:15 PM on 04/25/2011

Just drop the LER, from his last name and youv'e got what he is!

[QuantProgrammer]

07:14 PM on 04/25/2011

To those who claim the justice system is broken and skewed in favor of banksters, it's really just somewhat slow. We'll see more mortgage fraud cases and insider trading suits as the mess continues to slowly get cleaned up. The key is making sure everyone sees the trials as fair and just.

People are going to jail over this. Let's just make sure we also don't send folks to jail if they haven't knowingly done anything wrong.

[cats530]

04:44 PM on 04/26/2011

"I do not know for sure if this will cure the legal issue of whether service was defective, but it will most certainly give the Plaintiffs/ProVest a very strong argument should someone challenge service of process . .. Ms. Cavallo was appointed to the Chief Judge’s list of certified process servers and that appointment wasn’t revoked until Jan. 22rd• We don’t have to ((extend” her 2009 appointment or somehow deal with the issue of having her sign and backdate an oath to cover Jan. 1 thru Jan. 22."

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/foreclosure-fraud-dummies-how-get-fl-chief-judge-work-you-banks

[logicanada]

07:04 PM on 04/25/2011

Now he should lose his whacky home(s) and vehicles and boat and . . .

[littlepuffycloud]

06:52 PM on 04/25/2011

'Shmuckler'? Really? He never thought about changing his name to something less...horrible?

[TheSpiderMind]

06:12 PM on 04/25/2011

Do business with Hassina Ansary and you will not only get defrauded, you will get defamed as a "fraud master" if you even complain about being defrauded.

[Just a passerby]

10:30 PM on 04/25/2011

sure, schmuckler.

Too bad the courts ruled against you.

[TheSpiderMind]

10:37 AM on 04/26/2011

Yes, indeed, a typo in my post, change Ansary to "Howard Shmuckler"

[Ed Baker]

05:15 PM on 04/25/2011

There are so many of these scams out there. I've seen case after case of people falling for this stunt. Mods are very difficult to get - bottom line -pay the loan back on the terms you agreed, or refinance, or sell (if you can) - or approach the lender on a short sale - short sales are tough enough to get through - but mods are nearly impossible and offer very little in terms of payment relief.

[mnich13]

05:12 PM on 04/25/2011

Is this guys stats really all that different from the Obama plan to keep people in their homes?

[TheSpiderMind]

06:11 PM on 04/25/2011

LOL, if you are going to make a false comparison, then make it. Don't pass the buck on everyone else to make your false point. That's strange.