Task Force to Combat Repossessed House Rescue Fraud
Foreclosure has spread rapidly across California making it number 3 among the states with highest foreclosure rate in the first quarter of 2009. The growing number of distressed homeowners has encouraged some unscrupulous people to take advantage of their desperation to avoid foreclosure.
A task force has been formed to address the growing repossessed house rescue fraud in San Joaquin Valley. The task force is made up of local, state and federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of Housing, Secret Service and county district attorneys.
The task force has been established with the sole purpose of investigating repossessed house rescue fraud and going after these perpetrators of fraudulent activities connected to the housing market boom and the crisis that followed.
As part of the campaign against mortgage fraud, the FBI has established 65 similar units to curb the spread of fraudulent schemes which is blamed for as much as $6 billion losses in the real estate industry.
Steve Dupre of the FBI Sacramento said that it is typical for the FBI to organize task forces regularly to address violent crimes. However, setting up task forces that will focus on repossessed house rescue fraud indicates the prevalence of the problem.
In 2008, the estimated number of loan fraud cases in the country reached 63,000. From January to February of this year, the FBI received about 28,873 complaints of mortgage fraud activities and it has 2,000 pending cases.
About 734 fraud cases were opened in the United States in 2008, a significant increase from 295 mortgage fraud cases reported in 2003.
Supervisory special agent at the FBI office in Fresno Harriet Dugal said that so far, no arrest has been made but the agency is working on several cases from Bakersfield to Stockton.
Industry experts agree that the foreclosure crisis has become a breeding ground for unscrupulous people preying on desperate homeowners who want to save their properties from foreclosures.
Market studies showed that most vulnerable to repossessed house rescue fraud scheme are minorities. The Department of Housing has received 90 suspected mortgage fraud cases in the area.
And most of these fraudsters advertise their repossessed house rescue service through radio programs and word of mouth.
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