The FBI has set up Mortgage Fraud Task Forces throughout the country, including in Charlotte, North Carolina. The latest FBI Mortgage Fraud Report lists North Carolina as one of the top states “significantly affected” by mortgage fraud.

“Mortgage Fraud” has become the general term to describe what is actually a wide spectrum of allegedly fraudulent conduct, including false loan applications, false or inflated appraisals, failure to disclose second mortgages, and false statements on HUD-1 settlement statements.

When the FBI and federal prosecutors begin a mortgage fraud investigation, they put under scrutiny not just the buyer and seller, but also the appraiser, the mortgage broker, the bank lending officer, the builder, the developer, and the lawyer and paralegal who preside over the closing.