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A ban on up-front fees, Boucek said, will enable her office’s consumer fraud division to crack down on the scam artists. And she said the problem is getting worse, as almost all of the other states in the region already have such laws, including one adopted by California just last year.
“Since they passed that law banning up-front fees, we’ve seen an increase in the number of foreclosure consultant complaints here in Arizona,” Boucek explained. “So we think what we have is an influx of people coming over from California to prey on Arizona consumers.”
Boucek acknowledged that the practices of some of these scammers already is illegal under existing consumer fraud laws. But she said only the ban on up-front fees will make a real and immediate difference.
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