Attorney General Kris Mayes said a county court has seized millions of dollars in assets belonging to a couple accused of preying on vulnerable Arizona homeowners.
And she warns dozens of similar scammers could still be active around the state.
Mayes’ office filed a civil suit last week in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleging Edward Trenton Albarracin and Gretchen Marie Zamjahn targeted distressed homeowners by offering to “rescue” them from foreclosure.
“But the offer of help was a lie, and it was a trap,” Mayes said.
Instead, Mayes claimed, they tricked the property owners into signing their homes over to one of dozens of shell companies owned by Albarracin and Zamjahn. According to the Attorney General’s Office, there are at least hundreds of victims, possibly more.
“What we have uncovered is a predatory real estate operation that specifically targeted elderly Arizonans in financial distress, people facing foreclosure who were desperate to keep their homes,” Mayes said.
Mayes said Albarracin and Zamjahn operated using aliases, including Trenton and Gretchen Edwards.
A Maricopa County judge granted the attorney general’s emergency request to place a receiver in charge of the couple’s assets.
That includes millions of dollars worth of real estate, luxury vehicles and cash that could eventually be used to pay back victims, Mayes said.
How the scam works
Investigators said scammers engaging in this type of real estate fraud scheme can identify victims via notices of trustee’s sale, public documents posted on the county recorder’s website to begin the foreclosure process.
“So there's a race, once they see that information, there is a race to get to that person's home,” Mayes said.
Senior Litigation Counsel Shane Ham, who is working on the case, said scammers can also use other third-party data services to identify homes that may be foreclosed on.
Mayes said the individuals behind the fraud will often employ teams of “door knockers” to approach those homeowners. Those door knockers are then paid a cut of the profits.
“It's kind of like a pyramid scheme,” she said.
Mayes said victims are told that the perpetrators of the scheme can help them avoid foreclosure, but would actually use an array of misleading shell companies to trick their victims.
The perpetrators may operate under misleading names, such as Hands with Hope LLC, she added.
Albarracin and Zamjahn also operated a website at azhomebuyer.com, though the current website operated at that web address is unrelated to the case, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
According to the lawsuit, Albarracin and Zamjahn would then tell homeowners they needed to transfer the property to a trust or a living trust. But they would actually transfer them into a limited liability company, or LLC, owned by Albarracin and Zamjahn.
Evidence cited in the lawsuit includes flyers featuring Zamjahn — going by the name Gretchen Marie — claiming she and her partner have “20 years helping homeowners save their homes.”
“I’m NOT here to buy your house,” the flyer reads.
Mayes said that flyer was “kind of true.”
“They were actually there to steal homes, not to buy it,” she said.
To avoid these types of scams, Mayes advised Arizonans to only do business with a trusted, licensed real estate agent or a trusted attorney who is licensed in the state.
Ham also suggested homeowners should work with professionals they’ve reached out to, not individuals offering unsolicited services.
A larger problem
Mayes said Albarracin lost his real estate license a decade ago for engaging in similar behavior and has been on her office’s radar for several years.
She said Albarracin had previously worked with Cameron Jones, who was sued by the attorney general earlier this year for allegedly spearheading a similar enterprise.
That has led her office to speculate there are many others operating these so-called “equity stripping” schemes in Maricopa County.
“We believe that there is a much wider network of scammers engaged in the same kind of activity out there, such that it is highly likely that there are hundreds of these scammers roaming the streets of Maricopa County, trying to steal people's homes out from underneath them,” Mayes said.
She said there are threads on popular websites like Reddit and in-person seminars “where people talk about how to get rich quick through these real estate schemes.”
Mayes said any Arizonan who believes they have been approached by someone working for such a scheme should contact her office.
Jail time?
Mayes alleged Albarracin and Zamjahn violated several laws, including the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and the Adult Protective Services Act. However, they do not currently face criminal charges.
Mayes said her office chose to file a civil suit, believing it was the fastest way to secure the couple’s assets to be used as future restitution for victims, and that she will look into whether to file criminal charges at a later date.
She said Albarracin has serious health issues, and investigators found evidence that his family members may now be trying to take control of his assets.
“The receivership will ensure that those assets are safeguarded while our case moves forward,” she said.
Zamjahn is cooperating with the investigation to help the receiver identify assets. She also agreed to surrender $120,000 in cash she controlled, give up her notary license and a permanent ban on engaging in real estate transactions in Arizona.
As part of the agreement, Zamjahn will be “less responsible for civil damages, civil penalties,” Mayes said. The agreement does not protect Zamjahn from facing future criminal charges.
