Another California Appraiser Fighting Mortgage Fraud

In Southern California, the North Country Times reports the story of one local real estate appraiser's efforts to combat mortgage fraud. According to the article:

• "Real estate appraiser Todd R. Lackner's second job as mortgage fraud investigator began when he stumbled onto a suspicious-looking transaction while online one day last March, he said last week. Within weeks, he was chest-deep in dozens of investigations of suspected mortgage fraud, and was helping federal investigators get the goods on real estate scammers who commit what are known as inflated-sale and-crash schemes, Lackner said."

For more, including how he went about compiling the information on the suspicious transactions for authorities, see Real estate scam emerges -- 'Crash and inflate' method generally leads to foreclosure.

Go here for prior posts on Northern California real estate appraiser Gary Crabtree's efforts to compile and provide authorities with information on suspicious real estate transactions.