Mortgage fraud activity increased during the first half of this year.
Suspicious activity reports in the first half of 2006 amounted to 279,703 — 11 percent above the same period in 2005, according to a report announced by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Reports characterizing mortgage loan fraud in the first six-months of the year increased 51 percent from the corresponding period in 2005, when such reports totaled 11,509, according to the recently released seventh issue of the SAR Activity Review — By the Numbers.
In the first quarter 2006 alone, there were 7,093 reports filed on suspected mortgage loan fraud, rising 35 percent from the comparable quarter a year earlier, FinCEN recently reported.
An explanation FinCEN gave for the growth in SARs reporting mortgage loan fraud is “increased awareness of the potential for fraud in a dynamic real estate market.”
“Many areas in the United States saw double-digit growth in real estate values during 2003 and 2004,” FinCEN added. “At the same time, mortgage loan interest rates were at a historic low. Although growth in the housing industry appears to be slowing in the first quarter of 2006, opportunities for fraud are still present.”
