The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is preparing a nationwide crackdown on mortgage fraud, with arrests expected to count in the hundreds, beginning as early as this week.
The FBI will target fraudsters involved in all aspects of the industry including encouraging borrowers to falsify income on mortgage applications to misleading homeowners about foreclosure rescue programs, as well as inflating home appraisals, the report said, citing two anonymous sources with knowledge of the initiative. The FBI declined to comment on the record in the report.
It’s the latest of more than 20 task forces around the country that target mortgage fraud since the housing crisis began in 2008. The FBI will release its annual report on mortgage fraud, covering activity in 2009, on Thursday.
Typical FBI mortgage fraud task forces include the collaboration of other government entities, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), among others.
This is just the beginning as fraud has been long associated with the current housing crisis.
