Mohammed Akbari accused of fraud
By PATRICK CROWLEY
2/28/2006

A California man is accused of posing as a mortgage broker to get at least one elderly couple to provide him enough information to steal equity from their home.

Johnnie Drew needed some money.

The plumbing had gone bad in the Stockton, Calif., home of the 72-year-old woman. With her husband in a wheelchair and unable to perform the work, Drew would have to hire a plumber to perform the work.

But where would she get the money?

Drew turned to Mohammed Taqi Akbari, a mortgage broker who said he could refinance the Drew's home. In turn, the couple could use the money to pay for the repairs.

Akbari, however, turned out to allegedly be a fraud. Rather than a mortgage broker, police say he is a con man who used phony documents, fake credentials and a smooth pitch to literally sell the Drew's home from under them.

"He posed as a mortgage broker, and allegedly tricked them into selling the house," Stockton Police Department Spokesman Pete Smith told MortgageDaily.com.

Akbari, 22, of Tracy, Calif., is facing fraud and theft charges. Smith said police in other nearby towns are investigating to determine if Akbari pulled similar schemes in their communities.

Smith said he is not sure how the Drew's met Akbari, if they approached him or if he solicited their business.

He went with his scam, "and this particular elderly couple wanted to refinance and get some money out for home repairs," Smith said.

The Drew's signed loan papers and were supposed to receive $5,000, Smith said.

"But instead (Akbari) sold the house to a fictitious account and used a quitclaim deed to zap out all the equity," Smith said.

Smith said the couple unknowingly signed a quitclaim deed, or the type of deed where the owner of a property transfers all their interests to someone else -- in this case Akbari, according to police.

The couple began receiving mortgage payment notices from a company they had never heard of before, Smith said. They contacted authorities shortly after receiving their notices.

The Drew's will be able to keep their home, Smith said.

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