Lack Of "Hard Time" On Conviction Lures Some Street Gangs Away From Drug Trade, Into Deed & Refinance Scams

Buried in a recent story in The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) is this excerpt on deed and refinancing scams where perpetrators use forged deeds, stolen I.D.s, crooked notaries (or an unwitting notary and a stooge) to swipe homes, borrow against them, pocket the proceeds, and walk away undetected:

• [T]he scam is so lucrative in Chicago that street gangs found it preferable to dealing drugs, the Chicago Tribune reported. Those schemes became so sophisticated that the gangs would reportedly hire title researchers and notaries for their efforts and either invent identities for the mortgages, steal identities from others or con people into signing documents. They also found that while drug sales brought hard time if they were caught, white-collar crime such as mortgage fraud often does not.

• “Why get locked up for selling drugs when you can get involved in a mortgage, get your money and walk away?” asked Askia Abdullah, spokesman for Eugene Moor, Cook County recorder of deeds. “They had active teams doing this.”

For the story, see Mortgage fraud: It’s so simple, it’s scary.