Mortgage Fraud Soars, FBI Reports
Mortgage fraud continues to increase in the United States
Mortgage fraud continues to increase in the United States, with the number of suspicious-activity reports to the FBI in 2004 almost triple those in 2003, according to the bureau.
Also, 26 different states have significant mortgage problems, and the top 10 included California, said the FBI's May Financial Crimes Report to the Public. The report gives statistics on a number of crimes, including mortgage fraud.
Based on existing investigations and mortgage fraud reporting, 80% of the fraud losses involve collaboration or collusion by industry insiders, the report concluded. Such forms of mortgage fraud involve falsely inflating the value of the property or issuing loans based on fictitious properties, among other things.
In 2003, 6,936 suspicious-activity reports were made to the FBI. The number zoomed to 17,127 in 2004, the bureau said.
The report noted that "mortgage fraud in the secondary market is often underreported. Therefore, the true level of mortgage fraud is largely unknown. The mortgage industry itself does not provide estimates on total industry fraud."
See the full report here:
Mortgage Fraud
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