NY Feds Targeting Foreclosure Rescue, Inflated Appraisal Scams

Reuters reports:

• The FBI has roughly tripled the number of agents in New York over the past year working on cases involving conduct such as fraudulent foreclosure rescue schemes and inflated home appraisals. Supervisory Special Agent Ben Berry told Reuters in an interview at the FBI's New York office that the agency expects more cases to be brought. "We are now starting to reap some of the benefits of having ramped up a bit here," Berry said. "It takes a while sometimes to bring a case to prosecution."

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• Earlier this week, six people were charged with fraudulently obtaining titles to scores of homes and taking out bad bank loans against them worth more than $20 million as part of a home foreclosure "rescue" scheme. [...] In New York, [Berry] said federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn had been taking an increased interest in such cases.

For more, see FBI: Mortgage fraud cases up "exponentially".

For more on the foreclosure rescue indictment reported earlier this week, see NYC Feds Indict Six In Alleged Foreclosure Rescue / Equity Stripping Scam Operation.

For more on equity stripping scams, generally, see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.).