Home > financial crime and fraud, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, housing and real estate > SARs Regarding Foreclosure Rescue Scams Increase

SARs Regarding Foreclosure Rescue Scams Increase

October 9, 2012

SARs Regarding Foreclosure Rescue Scams Increase

Source: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding foreclosure rescue scams continued to grow in the first half of 2012, even as the total number of SARs indicating mortgage loan fraud (MLF) declined, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced today in its latest Mortgage Loan Fraud Update. This update to FinCEN’s prior MLF reports looks at SAR filings from April through June 2012 (2012 Q2).

Foreclosure rescue scams target homeowners facing foreclosure with services or advice promising to stop or delay the foreclosure process. These scams prey on the vulnerability of individuals who are in danger of losing their homes. Some of these scams require homeowners to transfer their home’s title or make monthly mortgage payments to the purported "rescuer." Victims may lose thousands of dollars in fabricated fees, and risk losing their homes as well.

Financial institutions filed 2,360 foreclosure rescue related SARs in the first half of 2012. If this current pace continues, the total number of foreclosure rescue scam SARs for the calendar year will far exceed the total of 2,782 reported in 2011. In 2012 Q2, financial institutions submitted 17,476 total MLF SARs, a 41 percent decrease over 2011 Q2; 1,325 (8 percent) of these were related to foreclosure rescue.

Geographically, foreclosure rescue SAR subjects were disproportionately concentrated in California. This was consistent with FinCEN’s past research on debt elimination scams, a type of foreclosure rescue scam, which indicated a large number of the California subjects. Foreclosure rescue SARs filed during this period also noted higher violation amounts as compared to typical MLF SARs.

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Categories: financial crime and fraud, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, housing and real estate
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