When times get tough, the con artists come out of the woodwork. Today’s real estate market is no exception, with CoreLogic estimating 2010 losses to amount to as much as $11 billion and more than 500 people being arrested for “alleged mortgage crimes” in the first half of 2010 alone[1]. Furthermore, the FBI reported that pending mortgage fraud investigations are up a full 71 percent from 2008 to 2009 and that 2/3 of all those investigations involved losses of more than $1 million.

From the Miami assistant fire chief indicted on $10 million in mortgage fraud (she is accused of being a “straw buyer” for homes she had no intention of living in and that eventually went into foreclosure)[2] to the Virginia real estate agent who fled the country after she was accused of inflating incomes and fraudulently fixing credit scores for high fees totaling more than $1 million, fraud cases are certainly all over the news. However, these are not isolated instances being blown up in the media. “Cases like this that involve false promises, misleading information and fraudulent sales pitches…are being aggressively pursued across…the United States,” said A. McFeely from the FBI yesterday.

Do you think that enough is being done to fight mortgage fraud in the United States?

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[1] http://www.dsnews.com/articles/fbi-cracks-down-on-mortgage-fraud-schemes-across-country-2011-02-23

[2] http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/22/2079728/miami-assistant-fire-chief-snagged.html