Fake Foreclosure!

A record number of homes in this country are in foreclosure including many on the Gulf Coast.

You can imagine the surprise of a Grand Bay family when they got a letter saying their house was being auctioned off.

Joe'l Decker read us the part of the letter that really bothered her. 'As I am sure you are aware, your property has been scheduled for sale at a public foreclosure auction. Immediately my heart went to my stomach. This is my home."

Decker says she has a bankruptcy in her past but these days, bills are up to date.

This letter arrived in the mail box and she started making calls.

With lots of questions and still no answers, she called News 5.

We took her letter to the Mobile County Probate Court and showed it to Administrative Assistant Richard Johnson. "We had nothing to do with this. It wasn't ordered by probate court."

After a phone book search, we finally found the mystery man behind the letter. His name is Buddy Van Fosson. "You're not out here running a scam? No No. There are too many people out there that need help and want help."

Van Fosson says his company is called Pelican Properties of Alabama. He says he buys homes in foreclosure or in bankruptcy cases and his mailing lists got mixed up. "This was strictly an accident. It's just the wrong letter got sent to the wrong person. Well, how many of these accidents did you have? Probably about 8 or 10 and they've all been contacted."

Van Fosson might have contacted some of the people that received his letters but the Decker's never got a call.

We got the two connected. Joe'l is still uncomfortable about her information being out there but at least she knows the source of the problem.

Van Fosson says in the future he will make sure that his letters have more information on them so that potential customers won't be alarmed.