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SUBPRIME LOANS AND MORE It's a Bull Market for Financial Fraud |
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01/31/08 | |||||
Imagine landing your dream home.Your credit is a bit shaky, but you manage to get a subprime loan with an adjustable rate mortgage. A few years later the interest rates jump and you can no longer afford to pay. You see an ad for a business that’s willing to help—it’ll pay your mortgage for a modest monthly fee while you get back on your feet. But here’s the heartbreak: it’s a scam. The con artists just take your money and run… It’s just one of the latest schemes and frauds we’re seeing these days across the financial services industry, our senior criminal investigators said during a briefing Tuesday with the news media in Washington. These scams—which include plenty of shenanigans with mortgages and subprime loans—are costing the nation tens of billions of dollars a year. “Greed is definitely not good for our economy right now,” said our top criminal investigative exec Ken Kaiser following the briefing. “It’s hurting homeowners. It’s hurting honest businesses. And it’s hurting investors and markets around the world.” All good reasons why we’re squarely focused on cracking down on the largest of these financial crimes, launching proactive initiatives and shifting resources as trends emerge, all the while working hand-in-hand with a host of government and private sector partners. Among the specifics discussed at the briefing: Subprime mortgage loans:
Traditional mortgage fraud:
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