Loan Shark Takes Deed During Refinance, and the Target Fights Back

A Brooklyn woman recently left her home — and not by choice. Vira Lynn Jones mistakenly signed her deed over to a loan shark a few years back, when trying to refinance.

She fought the culprit in court. She’s been fighting for three and a half years.

But the court hasn’t backed her up. Now, she and others in her shoes are demanding that the Brooklyn authorities take action.

Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office Replies

The DA’s office insists it is taking action against deed theft. It’s managed to get a conviction just last month, forcing a scammer to return 11 properties to their rightful owners.

And, following a campaign by the state’s Attorney General’s office, New York state now names a specific crime of deed theft in its law. It’s part of New York’s ongoing work to help protect New Yorkers’ deeds and homes.  

Community organizer Evangeline Byars isn’t satisfied. She says the office hasn’t been responsive to thousands of people “who have reported theft” earlier, and never recovered their deeds.

It’s shocking to think that this ugly form of exploitation continues to plague people in one of the largest, most organized cities in the world.

Disorder in the Court

Vira Lynn Jones, who has long owned a legal, four-unit brownstone, spoke before the City Council this June. She described a surreal experience with corrupt lenders from a company named Majestic Crown. She explained that the company pushed her property title into a deceptive foreclosure case, through which it sold the home.

She recounts frustrating attempts to seek help from the legal system.

Authorities have dismissed her, she says, because the home is categorized as a foreclosure. New York City agencies, she said, “look at me and it says foreclosure” and then they refuse to help.

And when she has pleaded with the Superior Court for a temporary restraining order, the judge has ruled for the swindlers “every single time.”

Jones’s testimony revealed the terrible psychological, physical, and financial effects of deed theft. Jones also detailed a very frightening set of tactics.

“Mental and Psychological Terrorism”

Jones describes an inside look at a “well-organized, well-oiled criminal enterprise” targeting senior deed holders and those who cannot get loan approvals through conventional, big-bank channels. Swindlers sniff these people out, and apply “mental and psychological terrorism” to get them out of their homes, Jones says.

Among other things, Jones testified, all this occurred:

• First, the business swapped out Jones’s street number with the one next door. This way, sneaky actors can prompt a foreclosure without the deed holder getting all the investors’ calls and visits.

• Then, in October 2022, the company sold the house through a foreclosure sale without Jones’s permission or knowledge.

• The perpetrators broke door knobs trying to keep Jones and other targets out of their homes. The swindlers put security cameras in halls and chained off upper floors. They vandalized apartments, leaving them unfit to rent out.

• In December 2022, the company gave a 30-day warning to Jones, ordering her to leave (what was) her own property.

• In February 2024, in the middle of the New York winter, the manipulators broke the home’s boiler.

All the while, Jones refused to give in to the intimidation. Her tormentors keep urging the police to arrest her. As Jones reported: “One 70-year-old woman…spent three days in jail; another spent 60 days in jail — enough time for them to take her house.”

“Thugs” turned up at “all hours of the day and night” to wreak havoc, Jones said. Council Member Crystal Hudson responded, “I’m sorry that you’ve gone through what you’ve gone through.”

Brooklyn Borough President Weighs in With Testimony

Bruno Daniel, whose title is Director of Community Affairs, spoke on the same day to the City Council. On behalf of borough president Antonio Reynoso, Daniel stated:

• Holding a deed is one of the key pathways a household has to build and keep wealth.

• Deed theft is still “a pressing issue” in Brooklyn. Deed fraudsters work through refinancing scams like the Jones case. They also engage in manipulative forms of home equity stripping, and exploitive bailout loans for deed holders in foreclosure.

• The usual targets are older adults, people falling behind in their monthly mortgage payments, and people with credit issues. In short, the same people who already may face mortgage default risks.

President Reynoso thanked New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, for taking more responsibility through her office; for pressing reforms through the legislature to criminalize deed stealing; and for encouraging prosecutions for deed manipulation. For example, New York now allows five years for prosecution from the date of the swindle, or two years after the deed holder found out about the theft — whichever happens last.

What New York City Must Do Next

Now, says Daniel, NYC can and should:

• Further extend the statute of limitations on prosecutions. People should have plenty of time to learn that their deed has been stolen and report the matter.

• Provide a better system of legal services to support vulnerable residents.

• Establish a “tangled title fund” as Philadelphia has done. The model offers up to $4,000 in support for people who need to resolve their contested title ownership.

• Create outreach and education programs, to prevent mistaken transfers.

All of these precautions would help to protect people who seek alternative paths to borrowing against their homes.

Could You Spot a Loan Shark?

A loan shark is someone who lends money for unduly high interest rates. The terms of the loans might be against the law. In this case, a trusted friend originally suggested that Vira Lynn Jones work with the problematic lender. This is how local loan sharks attract targets — through word of mouth.

A loan shark:

• Operates locally.

• Preys on desperate targets.

• Pays little attention to a borrower’s ability to pay the money back.

• Sends out debt collectors. May use threats or violence to coerce borrowers to repay funds.

Loan sharks are presumably rare. Predatory lending, which is not associated with physical forms of intimidation, is now more common. The general impulse behind both styles is exploitive and harmful.

Readers, please be careful when you wade into financial waters. For Vira Lynn Jones and a number of neighbors, the struggle continues.