USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Mortgage fraud: Schemes, red flags, and responses.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
ISSN
2165-3755
Abstract
Mortgage fraud has been on the rise in recent years. Mortgage fraudsters reap illicit gains by engaging in diverse fraud schemes. These frauds include foreclosure rescue, home equity conversion, loan modification, illegal property flipping, builder bailouts, equity skimming, straw buyers, and short sale schemes. We review unique red flags for each scheme. We then document how and why the rise in mortgage fraud has not been accompanied by a concomitant increase in federal and state prosecution. While the federal government has reinstated tougher mortgage underwriting standards and instituted a license registration system for mortgage brokers, additional actions can be taken to combat mortgage fraud. We recommend a series of additional steps that could be taken by the public and private sectors to enhance the attack on mortgage fraud. Forensic accountants would play an important role in the implementation of the additional anti-mortgage fraud steps.
Language
en_US
Publisher
Louisiana State University, EJ Ourso College of Business Administration, National Association
Recommended Citation
Stowell, N., Pacini, C., Schmidt, M., & Keller, K. (2014). Mortgage fraud: Schemes, red flags, and responses. Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting 6(2), 225-259.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Abstract only. Published in Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting 6(2), 225-259. Full-text article may be available through the link provided.