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Mortgage fraud units proposed
By admin | March 9, 2008
Mortgage fraud units proposed — chicagotribune.com
Mortgage fraud units proposed
Officials in Cook, DuPage Counties press for task forces to probe suspected falsified transfers
By Susan Chandler | TRIBUNE REPORTER
March 9, 2008
When Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore discovered his cousin had been bilked out of her house, he came up with an early warning system for mortgage fraud — the humble postcard.
Beginning in 2007, Moores office began mailing postcards to homeowners when quitclaim deeds were filed, transferring interest in their properties. Some criminals had been forging owners signatures on the deeds, transferring ownership to themselves, and then mortgaging the homes without the real owners being any wiser — until the foreclosure notices started arriving.
But mortgage scam artists have stayed a step ahead of the game. Sometimes they pull the postcards out of the homeowners mailboxes, Moore said. Occasionally they put the homeowners mail on a vacation hold at the post office so the alerts are delayed.
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Now some criminals are switching to other types of documents to effect their fraudulent transfers, ones that dont trigger postcard mailings.
Moore said he needs additional resources to keep up with the bad guys. So he is asking for $1 million in additional funding from the county to create a mortgage fraud task force inside his office. The squad would be made up of several sheriffs police officers trained in financial crimes and at least one full-time prosecutor.
“Mostly everything regarding mortgage fraud can be traced back to the recorders office,” he said, adding his office doesnt have the capacity to investigate the 5,000 documents that are recorded daily.
He isnt the only one thinking that way. The DuPage County recorders office is looking at a mortgage fraud task force as well.
As for what could be accomplished, Moore points to Detroit, where the register of deeds office in Wayne County, Mich., has the kind of unit he wants.
Since September 2005, the Wayne County task force has opened 420 cases of suspected mortgage fraud and sent dozens of people to prison. There is a hot line for consumers and two intake workers to sort through the calls. Four sheriffs deputies investigate cases and two full-time prosecutors bring charges.
“We have a 100 percent conviction rate,” said Bernard Youngblood, the register of deeds in Wayne County. “We have convicted 40 individuals and returned about 100 properties to the rightful owners. This has been a tremendous assistance for the individual people involved. They had nowhere to go.”
Some task force members work undercover. Deputies have sat in on closings and made arrests. The squad works out of its own “war room,” complete with pin-studded maps that highlight fraud hot spots.
In September, the Wayne County Sheriffs Department collared three men accused of swindling senior citizens out of $600,000 through fake deeds. Deputies raided the house of Nelson Sumpter, 42, and then confiscated it, along with three luxury cars, because they allegedly had been purchased with stolen money.
Sumpter, who pleaded not guilty, faces 41 felony charges and the possibility of a long prison sentence because he is repeat offender.
Sumpter and the two other men claimed to be real estate professionals who would help the seniors sell their homes to investors After they got the homeowners signatures, they copied or scanned them on documents that gave them power of attorney, authorities said. Sumpter then allegedly sold the houses and kept the money. Sumpters attorney could not be reached for comment.
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