CHICAGO (CBS) — Three Chicago area firms have been sued by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office for allegedly scamming people out of money to help them with their mortgages.

The lawsuits by Attorney General Lisa Madigan say the three companies – Acceptance Financial Corp., Elite Outsourcing Services, and International Embassy Realty – all collected upfront money and provided customers will little or no help, the Chicago Tribune reported.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Dave Marsett reports

Madigan’s office says the three companies also preyed on people who spoke English as their second language, the newspaper reported.

Specifically, Madigan’s office accuses Acceptance Financial of preying on Polish and Russian homeowners and demanding upfront fees of $750 to $3,000 to secure loan modifications, the Tribune reported.

The lawsuits also say Elite Outstanding took fees illegally from at least 100 consumers, and in some cases referred customers to the Attorney General’s office for assistance, the Tribune reported. Meanwhile, Embassy is accused of targeting Hispanic owners, from whom they took more than $16,000 the newspaper reported.

The Attorney General wants to shut down the firms and get consumers their money back. This makes 50 such lawsuits the AG has filed since 2006, the Tribune reported.