With President Obama’s current high approval ratings and his high degree of popularity with the public, it should come as no surprise that many websites and marketers are trying to cash in. While businesses are mostly free to use Obama’s likeness on their products or services, it’s still a “buyer beware” world.

Take, for example, the new Homeowners Affordability and Stability Act of 2009, President Obama’s so-called foreclosure rescue plan. The plan is designed to provide $200 billion to government-sponsored companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with another $75 billion to modify mortgages or provide government-backed guarantees.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, a number of scam artists have already begun to capitalize on the popularity of Obama and the new scheme to deceive homeowners in foreclosure. The FTC is holding a press conference tomorrow, March 4, 2009, to address some of these new scams trying to pass as legitimate providers of government assistance.

PRESS CONFERENCE to reveal bogus websites and other scams that claim they can help individual consumers qualify for a share of the stimulus package money. Many sites use photos of President Obama and Vice President Biden to give the appearance of authenticity. The sites also use logos from ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX, NBC, MSNBC, USNews, and other major media outlets to appear legitimate.

With all the news coverage of the plan thus far, every homeowner experiencing financial trouble is asking the obvious question, “Do I qualify?” Unfortunately, any homeowner who relies on a seemingly legitimate news or government-type website to find out if they qualify for Obama’s mortgage bailout will run into a number of problems.

First of all, all the details of the plan have not yet been published, so it would be impossible to know if one borrower or another qualifies or not. While the government has come up with a few different types of assistance and requirements in the past few weeks, full details aren’t expected until at least March 4, 2009.

Second, based on details already released by the government, the Obama mortgage bailout may be difficult, if not impossible, for many homeowners to qualify for. Properties with a second mortgage or HELOC are disqualified, as are jumbo loans (over $417,000), and investment properties or second homes are not eligible for assistance.

Third, this program remains voluntary for banks and lenders that have not taken money from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). As with most voluntary programs thus far, banks have done little to devote resources to helping borrowers qualify for such government programs.

So far, voluntary government foreclosure relief programs like Hope Now, Project Lifeline, and the Hope for Homeowners Act have failed to lower the foreclosure rate. While the number of loans being modified has increased, the default rate has been disappointingly high. Can we expect Obama’s plan to succeed where previous ones have failed?

Homeowners trying to save their homes have a lot more work to do than simply put their faith in President Obama to solve the foreclosure crisis. While the new plan may be one more option borrowers can try to qualify for, every foreclosure situation is unique and requires a specialized approach, which standard government programs cannot provide.

Any website or company that tries to pass itself off as an affiliate of a major news network or as a government-approved program should make the owners go in the opposite direction. Hopefully, the FTC will do borrowers a service tomorrow by warning them about these types of scams and explaining how to avoid them.

But in the meantime, it’s still up to foreclosure victims themselves to do the research necessary to understand how foreclosure works and what methods, offered publicly or privately, can stop it. Ignorance of how mortgages worked helped create the housing crisis; only knowledge of foreclosures and awareness of scams and solutions will help put an end to it.