Queens’ Guyanese community targeted in mortgage fraud ring

The city’s Guyanese community was the target of a mortgage fraud ring that preyed on underwater homeowners trying to avert foreclosure, prosecutors said this week. The Daily News reported that 17 people were charged in the scheme, which involved duping victims into giving them title to their homes, taking out inflated mortgages on the properties, and then pocketing the money. Led by Roger Huggins, 34, the ring allegedly stripped $3 million in equity from more than two dozen Queens homes. [NYDN]