MONTPELIER — Vermont banking regulators have noticed a disturbing and unwelcome new arrival in the state — companies that appear to be offering assistance to those facing mortgage problems but in fact only want to get some money from those suffering through tough times.

"This is a predatory practice. These are people who are desperate and looking for some help," said Thomas Candon, deputy commissioner of the Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration.

At least a few Vermonters have been victimized by the practice recently, Candon said. One person gave someone offering to help access to their checking account, losing about $1,500, said Candon, the head of the banking section of the department. Another Vermonter sent $2,500 in money orders to another company pretending to offer mortgage assistance.

The mortgage crisis striking the country in recent months has not been as bad in Vermont as elsewhere. By the third quarter of 2008, the percentage of mortgages headed into foreclosure during those three months in Vermont has risen to about a half a percentage point. For comparison, that rate had been hovering at about 0.2 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Meanwhile, by the third quarter of the year the national rate was up to nearly 1.1 percent, while New England overall had a rate of about 0.7 percent.

However, that does not mean that Vermont is immune to the rising numbers of foreclosures, or that those predatory companies seeking desperate people in need of help are not finding fertile ground in the Green Mountains.

"We are just starting to see it in the last month here in Vermont," Candon said. "People have paid money" for services they have not received.

"It is a new trend here," Candon added. "It is starting to rear its ugly head."

It is not entirely clear how the companies are getting the names or numbers of those they are approaching with offers of help. It may be from lists of foreclosures, and in some cases it appears they are "cold calling" telephone numbers, seeking people with mortgage problems.

"We are trying to figure that out also," Candon said.

The companies do not appear to be licensed as lenders, mortgage brokers or debt consolidators, which they would have to be to legitimately offer such services, Candon said.

The department has heard reports of such practices in the Northeast Kingdom and in Rutland, as well as in other parts of the state, he said.

Vermonters should beware of several tactics such operations seem to be using, Candon said. Unsolicited offers should be looked at carefully, as should those requiring up-front payments. In addition, being told not to make mortgage payments or receiving a high-pressure sales pitch is a sign to beware, according to the banking regulators.

Candon said it's frustrating to see people in financial trouble being charged by illegitimate operators when similar services may be available for free, either from the state itself of from home ownership centers or other agencies around Vermont.