What Happened
The Federal Trade Commission and California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation sued the operators of Golden Home Services (and its multiple aliases: Home Matters USA, Academy Home Services, Atlantic Pacific Service Group, and Westwood Advocates) in September 2022. The scheme had been running for years before that, targeting thousands of struggling homeowners.
The scam was straightforward and devastatingly effective: promise to reduce mortgage payments, prevent foreclosure, and provide government relief assistance. Then charge an upfront fee. Then disappear or deliver nothing of value.
A federal court ruled in February 2024—three and a half years after victims first started losing money—that the defendants had defrauded more than 3,000 people nationwide. The court ordered the operators to turn over $19 million in restitution. In June 2026, the FTC finally began distributing refunds from that $19 million pool to verified victims.
The 1,821 recipients of this first distribution will receive $3 million. That means an average refund of about $1,650 per victim. For a homeowner who sent thousands to these scammers in hopes of saving their house, the math is depressing: you got partially refunded, years later, after a court battle that had nothing to do with you.
Why This Matters
This matters because mortgage relief scams target vulnerable people at the moment they are most panicked. Homeowners facing foreclosure are not making clear-headed financial decisions. They are scared. They are desperate. And predators know exactly how to exploit that desperation.
The scammers promised what the government wasn't delivering: direct assistance in keeping homes. They understood their customers' psychology perfectly. And they took their money.
What also matters is the timeline: If you were scammed in 2015, you waited until 2022 for the lawsuit to be filed, then until 2024 for the judgment, then until 2026 for your refund. That's 11 years. Eleven years to get partial restitution for a crime committed against you.
And this is the success story. The court won, victims are getting some money back, and the scammers were prosecuted. Most scam victims get nothing.
The Dumb Part With The Multiple Names
One of the most obvious red flags in mortgage relief scams is that the criminals operate under multiple business names. Golden Home Services, Home Matters USA, Academy Home Services, Atlantic Pacific Service Group, Westwood Advocates—all run by the same operators.
Why? Because when one company's reputation goes toxic, they kill it and start a new one with a new website, new phone numbers, new promises, and the same scam playbook. By the time victims, regulators, or attorneys general figure out it's the same people, they've already moved on to the next shell company.
The FTC knows this pattern. It's documented it hundreds of times. Yet these operations continue because the barrier to entry is so low and the payoff is so high. A few thousand dollars in startup costs and you can potentially steal millions from people who are already desperate.
The dumb part is that homeowners were told by these companies to wire money to offshore accounts or send it via payment services that offer zero buyer protection. The dumb part is that upfront fees for mortgage relief work are literally illegal—it's a federal crime—yet scammers take them anyway and it takes years for enforcement to catch them.
The Bottom Line
The FTC got this one right: They sued, they won, they recovered money, and they distributed it to victims. That's the system working. But the fact that victims had to wait a decade to get partial restitution for a crime that was obvious at the time (upfront fees for mortgage relief = illegal) is the real stupid shit.
The advice is always the same: contact your mortgage servicer directly, seek a HUD-approved housing counselor for free, never pay upfront for mortgage relief, and don't trust companies operating under multiple brand names.
If you were defrauded by Golden Home Services or its aliases, the FTC set up a refund administrator. Victims can call 1-833-674-0067 to check if they're eligible for a payment.
Sources
Mortgage Professional America: FTC returns nearly $3m in mortgage relief scam payouts
Get Out of Debt: The FTC Is Mailing $3 Million in Mortgage Relief Refunds (June 2026)
FTC: Consumer Protection Bureau
FTC Consumer Advice: Mortgage Relief Scams