cig realty

I responded to an advertistment on Craigslist posted by Carlos Aponte, who was advertising several properties for sale which he stated he could get financing for. He introduced me to a local realtor who was to assist me with finding my dream home. Once I found my dream home, I notified Carlos who advised that before the process could officially get started, I needed to wire $5000 to a bank account owned by CIG Realty. After I wired the $5000 I received a contract and other documents from CIG Realty, one of which included a letter on CIG letterhead which explained their 15 day refund policy. Shortly thereafter, I got a call from the realtor congratulating me and telling me that I had won the bid for the house of my dreams. While the paperwork was being processed and in order to avoid having to sign a new lease, which the lessor was insisting that I sign or vacate the premises, I moved my family in with my mom for what I thought would be a short two to three week period. Two weeks later I got another call from the realtor and Carlos telling me that I did not get the house. So I struck out again searching for my dream home. I found four or five others; however, I didn't get them either. Thinking it was due to the incompetence of the realtor, I struck out on my own. I found the perfect house, for the perfect price, and in the perfect neighborhood. I started negotiating with the seller to purchase the house and once again CIG Realty failed to come through with the required earnest money and failed to return the signed contract/offer in a timely manner. At that point I decided that CIG Realty was either a scam or had no intentions of financing a house for me. I requested the return of my $5000 downpayment, at least until I was successful in locating a house in which they were willing to expedite the paperwork and follow through with purchasing like they kept promising they would. That was in May, 2012. I have been stressing with them since trying to get my downpayment back. I have called and called; however, to date no refund has been issued and none of the employees in the office could provide accurate updates relative to when the refund would be issued. I was given two dates of expectancy, July 18, and September 23. Both were before Superstorm Sandy; and both went without an update or a call from CIG. I contacted the Attorney General's office in New York and in my home state. Nothing to date. The last letter I received from the New York Attorney General's office advised that I should receive my refund two weeks from the date of their letter (12/13/2012). I was told by the local realtor who was assisting me with locating a house that there were several other individuals in the area who wired money to CIG Realty and were unable to get a refund after they were unsuccessful with their attempts to purchase a home. According to the Realtor, one individual lost $11,000. I have spoken with this individual and there are others who are standing by waiting to take proactive steps to get their money back and shut CIG down. Because this scam has crossed state lines (and is being perpetrated in the Dominican Republic), I will be speaking with the FBI regarding this scam. In order to have a viable case, I need to hear from others who have been scammed by this company. Please provide your name and contact info to my email address (marytrue@gmail.com). I recentlyl read about a couple who are presently at large after they scammed out-of-towners out of their downpayments after promising them assistance with obtaining mortgages. This couple preyed on out-of-towners. They were sentenced; however, they fled before they could be incarcerated. This scam with CIG is illegal and at a time when the whole country is up in arms about mortgage fraud scams. Let's get busy and shut them down. Let's put them in jail. Let's get our monies back now!!!