HUD Holds Symposium to Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud
In response to recent claims of mortgage fraud running rampant in the southeastern United States, HUD has sponsored a symposium on how to recognize and avoid falling victim to this crime. The day-long educational conference is scheduled to be held in numerous areas throughout North and South Carolina, as well as Georgia and Florida.
Mortgage fraud can take on many forms, and in many cases requires a number of participants to work. Taking advantage of the modern lending system, where little or no verification is required to instate a mortgage loan, con-artists have bee working in teams to take money in loans from banks and lending institutions and never returning it. Often the crime begins with someone reporting false information on a loan application, but ends up requiring cooperation from a number of participants. Often loan closing attorneys and home appraisers are in on these crimes, and help to maximize the value of the loan and thus the criminal’s spoils.
One of the largest rates of mortgage foreclosure exists in South Carolina, which has seen a large spike in this crime in the past few years.
Many feel that loose standards and the ease of applying for a loan that has become an industry standard due to competition and an attempt to attract business has led to making it to easy for these people to succeed with their crimes. The absence of background checks and information verification allows many loan applicants to lie.
Lenders also are being bilked in South Carolina by organized networks of crooked professionals, said Brian Lamkin, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Columbia office and former head of the bureau’s national financial crimes section. “I’d say they’re more prevalent than one would realize,” he said.
HUD’s conferences are in conjunction with experts from the FBI’s white-collar crime units. Both agencies have an interest in seeing that the extent of mortgage fraud cases does not get further out of control. HUD hopes that raising awareness of the crime will not only lead to fewer instances, but also to legislative action which would make obtaining a mortgage a more rigorous process.
