A fraud suspect might not be easy to pick out of a crowd—or from a rap sheet. The average fraud perpetrator has no prior fraud charges or convictions, according to new research by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), a provider of anti-fraud training and education. The offender is commonly between the age of 31-45, and somewhat more likely to be male than female.Read more

Donna Demello has pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced. At the time of the offense, Demello worked as an escrow officer at Stewart Title in Milpitas, Calif. Demello, currently of San Jose, Calif., was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 13, 2010. She and five others, including James Delbert McConville, were charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.Read more

Horizon Consulting, a provider of financial support outsourcing services, has announced a “Back to Basics” initiative to advance the cause of risk mitigation and fraud prevention in the mortgage loan industry through intensified quality control. Statistics show that misrepresentation and fraud continue to escalate in the mortgage industry, despite (or, in part, because of) advances in technology. Automation of mortgage loan underwriting has, in one respect, created a false safety net for loan evaluation and approval. It is also easier than ever to forge documents.Read more

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has announced that Ravi Persaud, a real estate attorney, and George Esso, a former loan officer, were found guilty of participating in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme through GuyAmerican Funding Corporation, a mortgage brokerage located in Queens, N.Y. The scheme involved the use of numerous fraudulent loan applications designed to trick banks into lending money to unqualified borrowers for the purchase of residential properties in the New York City area.Read more

Matthew A. Kim of Alexandria, Va., has pled guilty to engaging in mortgage fraud as a loan broker for two local mortgage companies. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Daniel S. Cortez, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.Read more

A former mortgage broker who helped orchestrate a massive mortgage fraud scheme that caused more than $40 million in losses has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison. Mark Alan Abrams of downtown Los Angeles, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson. In addition to the prison term, Judge Pregerson ordered Abrams to pay more than $41 million in restitution to two federally-insured banks.Read more

Attorney General Terry Goddard has announced that Edward L. Carpenter of Phoenix, a minister and former mortgage broker, has been found guilty by a Maricopa County Superior Court jury of 10 charges related to his operation of a fraudulent mortgage "rescue" business. Carpenter was convicted on five counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, all Class 2 Felonies, and five counts of fraudulent schemes and practices, all Class 5 Felonies.Read more

A citizen of Ghana has been charged in federal court with wire fraud involving millions of dollars for selling at least 16 condominium units to straw buyers who he recruited for the purpose of obtaining mortgage loans based on false loan applications. United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Boston Field Division; Robert Bethel, Postal Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division; and Steven D. Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S.Read more

CoreLogic has introduced the Short Sale Monitoring Solution, which the company describes as the industry's first short sale fraud prevention and pricing solution. The new service allows lenders to receive alerts on "risky" pending and closed short sales to minimize unnecessary losses related to fraud and property underpricing, which CoreLogic estimates at $41,500 per transaction.Read more

The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has obtained consent judgments against five defendants that perpetrated an unlawful foreclosure rescue scheme against multiple homeowners facing foreclosure that stripped and retained hundreds of thousands of dollars of the victims' home equity. The judgments, entered against Primary Mortgage Resource, Leo Desire Sr., Robert Marks, Pierre Joseph and Daphne Mompoint, provide for payments of restitution to victims and civil penalties to the Commonwealth and prohibit the defendants from engaging in certain activities that facilitRead more