It's not just about inflating your income on an loan application anymore

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Mortgage Fraud can take many different forms from  lying on your loan application, to overstating one’s income, to failure to disclose liabilities and, even, inflating an appraisal.  

 

In South Florida, for example, mortgage fraud has become very intricate.  These crimes often involve broad conspiracies involving real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, “straw buyers” and real estate appraisers.  

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The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act

 

In the aftermath of the housing crash in 2008, Congress enacted the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (FERA), and the FBI formed the Financial Institution Fraud Unit.  This unit of the FBI investigates all types of mortgage and real estate fraud.  Specifically, the FBI has been investigating real estate and mortgage insiders for overstating values of real properties and issuing loans based on false figures, predatory lending, and misrepresentation of income, assets, and employment history in order to qualify for a loan by mortgage brokers and consumers.

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