Fraud

Former mortgage loan officer faces fraud, forgery counts

An Indiana loan officer faces a dozen felony counts after being accused of altering borrower information while working as an originator for two different lenders.  State officials filed charges against Laura Mickler in Delaware County circuit court, located in the Central Indiana town of Muncie, in early July. She faces four felony counts each of […]

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Trump says Fannie Mae suspects Schiff of mortgage fraud

Trump says Fannie Mae suspects Schiff of mortgage fraud

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called the Trump administration’s accusations of mortgage fraud regarding his Maryland property political retaliation.Al Drago/Bloomberg Fannie Mae suspects Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of mortgage fraud.  President Trump announced the government-sponsored enterprise’s findings in a Truth Social post Tuesday. The scheme allegedly involves a Maryland property Schiff has owned since at least

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Arizona man sentenced for HUD housing assistance fraud

An Arizona man was sentenced last week for misrepresenting his employment status to obtain Department of Housing and Urban Development housing assistance.  Jalil Al-Kinani was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation and must pay restitution to HUD following his sentencing last week in a Maricopa County court, according to a press release. The case

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Sen. Hassan vows crackdown on fraud and AI-driven scams

U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat representing New Hampshire and ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, announced a “broad new effort to protect people from financial scams” in a press release on Thursday. The initiative directly targets concerns highly relevant to U.S. banks and credit unions, including the proliferation of fraud on payment platforms

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How fraudsters exploit natural disasters

Flash flooding in Texas, which started on Wednesday and has killed at least 80 people, spawned fraud schemes and scams that attempted to exploit the goodwill and charitable instincts of onlookers. In one instance, the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department, located in hard-hit Kerr County, had its Venmo donation account temporarily suspended after creating it

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How an identity thief stole  million from HELOCs

How an identity thief stole $2 million from HELOCs

Adobe Stock A federal jury has convicted Oluwaseun Adekoya of bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. The case offers an in-depth look at a rising threat to banks and credit unions: identity theft used to steal from customers’ home equity lines of credit. A two-and-a-half-week trial exposed Adekoya as the ringleader

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Ex-HUD staffer pleads guilty to false claim over remote work

A HUD employee has pleaded guilty to making false claims about her remote work activity, costing the government over $200,000.  Crissy Monique Baker, 45, of Fairfax, Virginia, will be sentenced in September to a single charge of fraud that allegedly occurred while she was employed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development between 2021

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Mortgage fraud risk jumps 7.3% in one year

The potential for mortgage lending fraud accelerated over the past year, with risk related to undisclosed transaction details driving much of the surge, according to Cotality. In its latest report, the real estate data platform found fraud risk was up 7.3% year over year in the first quarter. Risk lessened over time, though, coming in

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Mortgage scam reports are soaring despite the slowing market

Mortgage scam reports have soared in recent years, opposite of the housing market’s slowdown. The industry as of April was reporting 71 mortgage scams per month, up from just 14 per month in 2022 at the tail-end of the refinance boom, according to BackOffice Pro, a business services organization. While real estate companies disclosed losses

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