The FBI mortgage fraud caseload is on track to pass last year’s volume and possibly even the record total reached in fiscal 2010.
As of March 8—which is only about half-way through the current federal fiscal year—the FBI’s pending mortgage fraud cases stood at 2,544, Christa Greco, a senior intelligence analyst at the agency, reported at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Fraud Issues Conference in Phoenix.
In fiscal 2011, the agency had a mortgage fraud case load of 2,691. And in all of fiscal 2010, the total caseload believed to involve loan fraud was 3,129.
Based on suspicious activity reports filed with the Federal Crimes Enforcement Network, the FBI estimates that total losses due to loan fraud was nearly $3.3 billion in fiscal 2010. In fiscal 2011, that figure fell to just over $3 billion, and as of Jan. 31, the total in fiscal 2012 is almost $597 million.
But Greco called those numbers “very conservative,” saying that losses to mortgage lenders and investors were very likely much higher.
The FBI official also reported that as of the end of January, fraud committed by distressed homeowners in the form of foreclosure rescue, short sale, loan modification and bankruptcy scams accounted for just 14% of the agency’s pending case load. The other 86% of the cases involved fraud committed during the origination process.
But she noted, too, that the caseload has shifted somewhat in the current fiscal year. So far, two out of every five cases involve a distressed homeowner, whereas just one in five in fiscal 2011 involved a distressed situation.
In her remarks to the conference, Greco said an analysis of field office intelligence reports shows a marked increase in identify theft, affinity fraud, occupancy fraud, fake gift letters and out-and-out embezzlement. Still, though, the old favorites remain flipping, skimming and builder bailout scams, among numerous other schemes, she said.
