Jackson County prosecutors charged Marilyn James, 55, in connection with a reverse mortgage scam on Thursday said KCTV5 News.
During a press conference, Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar said the woman inherited a house and instead of selling it, used the personal information of her elderly neighbor, transferred the property to his name and then took out more than $60,000 in a reverse mortgage without his knowledge.
Investigators discovered the issue while investigating James for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from her neighbors’ life insurance fund.
“It’s a new type of fraud, one you haven’t seen before because this is a new program,” Kanatzar said. “I hope I’m wrong, I hope we don’t see many more of these cases but I suspect we will. I hope these charges will be a deterrent to those thinking about exploiting our elderly in this way.”
KCTV5 said the scam is so new that only two people in the nation have been charged with it. To see a video click here.
