Missouri Cash Back Mortgage Scam Foiled By FBI At Closing Table

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that mortgage broker Angela Renee Williams-Buchanan approached the owners of a four-family building in St. Louis that was listed for $171,000 and presented an offer for $254,000. Rather than going to the sellers, the extra money was part of a "cash back" mortgage fraud scam that landed Williams-Buchanan in Federal Court on criminal charges. What she hadn't counted on was that the seller knew an FBI agent. FBI agents broke up the attempted scam at the title company's offices before the deal closed. Williams-Buchanan pleaded guilty of wire fraud on Thursday and received six months of house arrest and three years probation. For the whole story, see Mortgage broker avoids prison.