Tax Collector Blasts Mortgage Mailings

A Florida tax collector has warned taxpayers to be wary of a direct mailing urging them to refinance their homes to pay delinquent taxes.

Doug Belden, tax collector of Hillsborough County, sent out an alert on Friday, advising residents that his office has nothing to do with the Manhattan Mortgage Group Ltd., according to the St. Petersburg Times. Belden said his name and address were used in the direct mail piece, the paper added.

Sent last summer, the Ohio firm