Startling Mortgage Fraud Statistics
Mortgage fraud has an extremely high prevalence within the United States. Consulting
real estate attorneys handling mortgage fraud should be your first step. The sheer number of cases is startling. Everywhere you look mortgage fraud seems to be rearing its ugly head. Who knew that so many instances of fraud were happening right under the government and consumer’s noses?
Headlines scream, “2 Former Elk Grove Residents Indicted, Accused of Mortgage Fraud,” “Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing People’s Homes,” Texan Woman Accused of Preparing False Employment Verification,” and more. These are only a few of the headlines; dozens of others appear in print or online each day to describe the epidemic that is mortgage fraud.
With an amazing $2-3 trillion dollars going through mortgage loans each year, no wonder the criminal element has found a way to tap into the transactions.
Although many statistics will be provided, a considerable share of the mortgage industry is absent from any mandatory fraud reporting. Additionally, many mortgage products are resold on secondary markets and those sales can make it easier to cover up and/or distort the fraud.
The FBI provides the following statistics regarding mortgage fraud:
- Estimated annual losses of $4 to $6 billion
- 65 total FBI Mortgage Fraud Task Forces/Workgroups
- More than 2,000 pending FBI mortgage fraud investigations as of February 2009
- 734 cases opened in fiscal year 2008 compared to 295 in fiscal year 2003
The FBI also shares the top ten states with significant mortgage fraud problems (in order) in 2008 are:
- Florida
- Nevada
- Michigan
- California
- Utah
- Georgia
- Virginia
- Illinois
- New York
- Minnesota
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