A few years ago, two people knocked on the door of a man named Bouchard. They were not invited. They got him to sign documents he says he did not understand, and they left without giving him copies.
Then they registered a charge against his house for $30,999.85.
Money started coming out of his bank account every month. Years later he received a notice of sale. To keep his home, he was told he had to pay $80,711.29.
That is a real case, decided this year by the Ontario Superior Court.
Last week I interviewed David Sterns, a partner at Sotos Class Actions in Toronto. He is acting without fee, along with lawyers from the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, in a case alleging a pattern of fraudulent mortgages registered against the homes of elderly Ontarians. A motion in that case is scheduled for December.
One of the most troubling things I took away from the conversation is the extent and breadth of this kind of mortgage fraud. A system where criminals work from detailed lists of seniors, including who is an easy target because they suffer from dementia or because they have been successfully taken advantage of before.
And most troubling, as Sterns describes it, is what the whole thing depends on. Lenders who put up the money, collect good returns and never ask why an 80-year-old with dementia is putting a mortgage on their home. And a small number of lawyers who, in his words, are aiding and abetting the people running it — including the ones providing the so-called independent legal advice that makes these mortgages look valid.
Watch the interview here 👉 The Mortgage Fraud Targeting Seniors or listen to the podcast at Move Smartly.