MORTGAGE FRAUD UNFORTUNATE GROWTH INDUSTRY –Statistics, FERA, Adding Mortgage Fraud to Your Practice and Mortgage Fraud Types - Part 1

MORTGAGE FRAUD STATISTICS

Acting U. S. Attorney Jeff Sloman indicted forty-one “un-professionals” on mortgage fraud on July 28, 2009. These un-professionals face a variety of mortgage fraud charges involving $40 million in loans. The six separate cases epitomize the insidious nature of mortgage fraud from purchasers to mortgage brokers to real estate agents to lawyers, said Sloman.
Congress has appropriated $522 million in order to work towards higher mortgage standards. The money is to be spent in fiscal year 2010 and 2011 that is from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2011. The majority of the money is for investigating and prosecuting mortgage fraud.

There are 2,440 pending FBI mortgage fraud investigations, as of April 2009. This is more than double from the past three years.

In total, mortgage fraud suspicious activity reports in 2008 were at 63,173. They indicated more than $1.5 billion in losses. So far, up to May 2009, there are 40,901 suspicious activity reports.

Mortgage fraud cases opened in 2009 equaled 965, as compared to 136 opened in 2004.

During the fiscal year of 2008, the FBI had 574 indictments and 354 convictions on mortgage fraud.

President Obama notes that last year, the Treasury Department received 62,000 reports of mortgage fraud, which is more than 5,000 each month.

The FBI has created sixty-five mortgage fraud task forces/working groups.

There are over 500 new internet pages a month regarding mortgage fraud.