continued from h-1 H-1

In so% instances, petitions are
filed by the owners themselves in
filed faith who, for one reason or an-

 other, fail to  take further action. But
increasingly they are being filed

ply as a stalling tactic. And more en than not,
they are filed on the

owner's behalf, sometimes without the
owner's knowledge, by oppor- who know that
once a foreosure trustee learns that a bank

nuptcy petition has been filed, the sale will be
delayed until relief from the stay is granted by
the court. "Some people have apparently
created whole businesses out of the lay
possibilities provided by the

automatic stay," the task force found

While the panel's study described the most
popular bankruptcy fore- scams operating in
the cen-

California region, they are by no means
limited to the West Coast. According to Jane
Limprecht of the United States Trustees Pro

gram, component of the Justice

 co
 Department that supervises the ad- 
of bankruptcy cases na-
tionwide, this kind of fraud is "geo-

graphically graphically widespread."

 Indeed, says Limprecht, who de-


Oiled the abuses in an article last
uear in the ABI Journal a publica- of the 
American Bankruptcy Institute "mom-and-
pop" operators

are now active even in mid-size NfidAestem
cities. And some swindlers are becoming so
bold as to seek re- affiliations with local
consurnbankruptcy attorneys.

,Perhaps the most popular ruse in-

Mes the use of foreclosure notices
dentify owners facing the loss of
tb*homes. QUM identified, the
Perpetrator contacts the owner, of-

"mortgage assistance" or closure counseling"
and promIdng to work out the owner's
probwith his lender for an up-front ally
ranging from $250 to

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