As property owners who are desperate to solve their mortgage problems seek for help, mortgage fraud increases dramatically throughout the United States.
Mortgage fraud filings soared 23 per cent to 64,816 in 2008, and helped boost overall SAR filings by 13 per cent, to 732,563.
A report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows growth in suspicious activity reports related to mortgage fraud ranged from 41 percent to 44 percent from 2005-07 after peaking at 93 percent in 2004 (see chart below).
“While the amount of mortgage fraud cannot be precisely determined, industry experts agree there is a direct correlation between fraud and distressed real estate markets,” the report said. “As the housing market continues to decline in response to an increase in housing inventories (and) lack of sales, and new foreclosures surface, real estate values will continue to soften and fraud will continue to increase.”
Some of the mortgage scams include:
reverse mortgage fraud
credit enhancement schemes
“builder bailout” schemes
foreclosure-rescue schemes
serial property flipping
short-sale schemes
As the recession continues to push up unemployment, more and more Americans will risk becoming victim of mortgage fraud.
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