Mortgage Fraud Up 35 Percent
Posted on November 7, 2006
Filed Under Mortgage Updates
According to the Charleston Gazette, a new report by federal regulators indicates mortgage fraud rose 35% in the first quarter of this year (compared to the same period last year).
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCen, on Friday released its first report on mortgage-loan fraud, which is said to be one of the fastest-growing white- collar crimes in the country. The agency undertook the review after seeing a significant rise in the number of so-called suspicious activity reports - forms most often used to report suspected money laundering - that it received from U.S. banks concerning mortgage-loan fraud.
The article noted that particularly high incidences of suspected mortgage fraud occurred in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas.
Federal banking regulators have said mortgage fraud is growing because it can be very lucrative and fairly easy to perpetrate, especially in areas where home prices have been rising rapidly.
(Source)
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