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city warns of house demolition scam

09/18/2008 2:13 PM by

A press release issued this morning by the Richmond Police Department and the City Attorney’s Office seeks “to advise residents not to believe any letters they may receive that offer to buy their homes to save them from demolition.”

“It has been brought to our attention that a private home-buying company has mailed a letter to at least one homeowner in the City of Richmond. The homeowner was advised that their home was slated for demolition, and the company was offering to buy it to prevent this destruction,” said Tony Pham with the Richmond City Attorney’s Office.

“The home in question was not slated for demolition and it appears that the company may have been using this misstatement in an effort to purchase the house at below its actual value.”

The Richmond Police Department and the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office are working closely with the City Attorney’s Office to determine if any laws were broken by the home buying company.

“At this point we are still actively investigating this situation to determine if a criminal offense took place,” said Lt. Harvey Powers with the Richmond Police Department. “Instead of waiting until we can proceed with charges, we wanted to warn everyone in the community.”

If you have received one of these letters, please contact Tony Pham in the Richmond City Attorney’s office at 646-3388. Anyone who needs to determine if their property is actually slated for demolition by the City of Richmond should call the City’s 311 Call Center.


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