Protect yourself against threat of mortgage theft
First, on Sept. 20, the state House of Representatives passed a package of bills that made mortgage fraud a felony in Michigan and freed up funding for the attorney general to pursue mortgage crimes. The legislation now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

Fifth Third Seeks Criminal Probe On Alleged Mortgage Fraud
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) has asked for a criminal investigation after allegations of a conspiracy among some bank employees, appraisers, title companies and others involved in mortgages in affluent suburbs of Detroit. Several employees have been fired or have resigned, The Detroit News said Friday.

Mortgage fraud rocks Fifth Third Bank
A multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme involving pricey homes in Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham has resulted in a half-dozen firings and resignations at Fifth Third Bank, according to court documents.The alleged scheme involved a conspiracy among bank employees, appraisers, title companies, and others.

First Magnus says inflated appraisals have cost it more than $1 million
An Arizona mortgage company has sued six businesses and 28 individuals, alleging they conducted a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud in the Kansas City area.The 82-page civil lawsuit by First Magnus Financial Corp. detailed a scheme that it said relied on intentionally inflated appraisals, false borrower information, stolen identities of legitimate estate appraisers and false appraiser names.

ABC News: Don't Be Victimized by Predatory Lenders
Predatory Lenders Can Ruin Your Credit Rating and Force You to Overpay for Your Home.  As the housing market sours or softens — whatever you want to call it — some Americans are finding that they overpaid for their homes, and they're struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments. They claim they can rescue you with too-good-to-be-true loans, but those loans turn out to be abusive. If buying a home is the American dream, then predatory lending is the American nightmare.

Mortgage fraud cases keeping DA's office busy
Some Collin County residents have been offered money to buy houses in the past year, but law enforcement officials say much attention should be paid to the devilish details of those deals. A string of recent cases shows the focus of the district attorney's office is on details that amount to mortgage fraud. The trend is clear: No mortgage fraud cases last year. Five convictions this year. And four new cases opened since April.

Mortgage fraud linked to marijuana grow ops
Mortgage broker Danh Van Nguyen has been sentenced to a year in jail for writing 900 bogus mortgages worth more than $2 million over an 18-month period. The penalty was imposed by a Surrey Provincial Court judge earlier this month. It came after Nguyen, a Surrey resident, pleaded guilty in May to six counts of using forged documents to arrange fraudulent mortgages in a scheme authorities said was linked to the illicit marijuana trade. The plot generated $2 million in profits, according to the Financial Institutions Commission (FICOM), the agency that regulates B.C. mortgage brokers and real estate agents.

Local Victims of Alleged Mortgage Fraud
The number of Americans who are finding their homes in foreclosure, is rising at a staggering rate... up 24 percent between July and August of this year alone! Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky are all among the 25 states with the highest foreclosure rates.  And some of those families may be losing their homes as the result of mortgage fraud. There are two ways that mortgage fraud happens.

Advocacy Group Expands Consumer Mortgage Protection Services For All Homeowners Americas Watchdog, in partnership with it's National Mortgage Complaint Center has increased the services it offers to individual homeowners with problems and or prospective homeowners on the verge of financing a home. Sixty million American homeowners were either over- charged/cheated, or will be taken advantage of when they finance or refinance their home.

Mortgage Fraud Costs Homeowners Millions
In Houston, the craze is catching on with criminals. But investigators do not call it investing. They call it mortgage fraud. The KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters uncovered a white-collar crime that is cheating Houston homeowners out of millions of dollars. Houston's building boom is good for the economy, bringing in riches for Realtors and happiness for new homeowners. But behind the bricks and lumber is a downside.