Woman set up fake agency to bilk new homeowners, state AG says

A Philadelphia woman is accused of scamming new homeowners by charging them for a service the city provides for free, according to a consumer protection lawsuit filed by the state Office of the Attorney General.

The lawsuit contends that Wanda D. Rogers operated a fictitious government office she called the Philadelphia Deeds and Registry Offices and offered to sell homeowners copies of the deeds. Homeowners were instructed to fill out a form and pay a processing fee, the lawsuit states.

“The city provides services at no cost to the public, and those services should never be misappropriated for private gain,” said Inspector General Amy Kurland in a news release reported by Philly Voice. “We can’t allow people to take advantage of the public’s trust in government.”

Some of the letters sent by Rogers to homeowners bore the seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and were signed by two fictional bureaucrats from her “Deeds and Registry” office, the lawsuit states.

Kurland encourages homeowner who feel they were scammed by Rogers to contact her office.

The lawsuit was filed after an investigation by the Philadelphia Office of the Inspector General, the Office of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Philadelphia Department of Records and the Philadelphia Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.