Are you currently having trouble paying your mortgage? Is your lender threatening to foreclose on your home? If so, you may be feeling a little desperate.

But beware, if you sign your deed over to someone else, you no longer own your property. Consult an attorney if someone asks you to do this.

Here is how one particularly egregious scam works:

Another “lender” knows you are in trouble and contacts you with an offer to help you find new financing. But, before he agrees to help, he asks you to deed your property over to him, assuring you that this is only a temporary measure to avoid immediate foreclosure.

You do so and then wait for the refinancing to happen. But there is one delay after another.

When the lender has the deed to your property, he begins to treat it as his own. He may even borrow against it, or sell it to someone else. In the case of the latter, you won’t see a penny of any money from your home’s sale because you no longer own the property.

The lender will probably treat you as a tenant and your mortgage payments as rent. If your payments are late, he can easily evict you from your rightful home.