Saturday Morning: Online Cheating Lessons -- Mortgage Fraud 2.0
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Aside: Items like this make us feel old. We remember the good old days, about two years ago, when you had to actually know some real criminals to engage in a fraud scheme.
The Times: ‘The sites, for example, offer better credit scores by hitching customers to a stranger’s credit card, or providing them pay stubs from a bogus company. One has even offered a well-stocked bank account to rent for a month or two.’
More: ‘’There is a whole underground world — an online cottage industry — that has grown up that allows anyone to commit mortgage fraud,’ said Constance Wilson, executive vice president at the financial fraud detection firm Interthinx.’
Another aside: Stories like this convince us that technology has enabled entire new categories of financial crime, and that law enforcement is slow to catch on, and slow to catch up. (Otherwise, we’d be writing about indictments, not flourishing scams, right?).
One more aside: Is there a prosecutor in California who is interested in tracking down mortgage fraud? I know Jerry Brown is upset about high gas prices. I know Rocky Delgadillo is upset about Paris Hilton and is cracking down on cat hoarding. Anybody upset about mortgage fraud?
Your thoughts?
Photo Credit: ‘Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud,’ by Ralph R. Roberts, available on Amazon.com.