FBI cites escalating mortgage fraud problem

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mortgage fraud is an escalating problem in the United States, the FBI said on Tuesday in a report that cited the subprime lending crisis as a key contributing factor.

The FBI said it received 46,717 "suspicious activity reports" from financial institutions related to mortgage fraud last year, compared with 35,617 in fiscal 2006 and just 6,936 in fiscal 2003. The government's fiscal year begins on October 1.

The total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown. But 7 percent of the suspicious activity reports filed in 2007 indicated a specific dollar loss exceeding $813 million, the FBI said.

"The $813 million loss denoted in this report is just the tip of the iceberg, reflecting only a small percentage of financial damage suffered by victims of mortgage fraud," said Assistant FBI Director Kenneth Kaiser, who is in charge of the criminal investigative division.

"The FBI remains committed to working with our law enforcement, regulatory, and industry partners to unravel these complicated fraud schemes and bring their perpetrators to justice," he said in a statement released with the report that details mortgage fraud in 2007.

The report did not name any specific companies and summarized mortgage fraud data from government agencies, private analysts, Fannie Mae and other sources.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said last month that the bureau's investigation of potential fraud in the U.S. home mortgage industry now involves 19 companies.

He did not identify any of the companies targeted in the FBI's investigation, but said the law enforcement agency was focusing on accounting fraud, insider trading and deceptive sales practices.

In the report for 2007, the FBI said the subprime share of outstanding loans has more than doubled since 2003, putting a greater share of loans at higher risk of failure.

The high-interest, high-risk loans, which were designed for people with poor or limited credit histories, contributed to the 2.2 million foreclosures filed during 2007, up 75 percent from 2006, the report said.

It said mortgage fraud appeared to be most concentrated in the north-central region of the United States.

The top 10 mortgage fraud states for 2007 were Florida, Georgia, Michigan, California, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New York, Colorado, and Minnesota.

Other states significantly affected by mortgage fraud included Arizona, Maryland, Utah, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

The report cited a number of the latest mortgage fraud schemes.

They include "builder-bailout" schemes, in which developers unload excess inventory through financial trickery, foreclosure rescue frauds that trick homeowners into signing over the deed to their house, seller-assistance scams that use false appraisals to sell homes and identity theft that leads to home equity credit lines being opened and drained.

The report is available on the FBI's website here

(Editing by Dan Grebler)