Positive Trend in Mortgage Fraud Reports

A recent report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network entitled, "Filing Trends in Mortgage Loan Fraud," documents the rising trend in Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) filed by banks concerning mortgages. It is not clear whether this signals more criminal activity or greater institutional awareness. As the report states:

Many SARs reflect activity dates that preceded the filing of the SARs by a number of years. Hence, an increase in the filings during this period is not necessarily indicative of an increase in mortgage loan fraud activities during the same period.

CBS June 19, 2008
More than 400 real estate industry players have been indicted since March - including dozens over the last two days - in a Justice Department crackdown on incidents of mortgage fraud nationwide.