FRAUD » Current Rates, News & Information

Mortgage lenders are being ripped off in droves by investors committing short sale fraud, according to a new CNN Money article. However, as noted in the article, lenders aren’t the only ones suffering. Homeowners and the market as a whole are taking a big hit from the new scam.

What is Short Sale Fraud?

The ex-CEO of what had been one of the largest privately-held mortgage lenders was sentenced jail time Tuesday for a $3 billion fraud that goes down as one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history. In other mortgage news, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $154 million to settle a case alleging it misled mortgage securities investors during the housing market slump.

Ex-CEO Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison

Taxpayer identity theft increased five-fold between 2008 and 2010 according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The office plans to share this news–provided to them by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)–during a House hearing on Thursday in hopes of curbing this type of fraud before it gets even more out of control.

Taxpayer Identity Theft Jumps by Nearly 200K in 2 Years

A new warning from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) says thieves are now skimming RFID information in order to steal credit card and debit card information. According to the not-for-profit organization, identity thieves are able to harvest numbers and personal details from new debit and credit cards by brushing past a purse or wallet.

How is the New RFID Technology Scanned?

Photo courtesy of Klem via Wikimedia Commons

This guest post is brought to you by The Digerati Life, a general personal finance blog.

Bernard Madoff is certainly not your typical crook. Until recently, he was a highly respected figure in the financial industry. In 1960, he used $5,000 in his own savings to found an investment company, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. He ran this company for almost half a century. For many years, Madoff also served as the Chairman of NASDAQ.

Why Did Madoff Do It?

If you have a checking account, being proactive with your finances is one of the best ways to stay protected from fraud happening to you. Balancing your check book, reviewing your statements, and accessing your account information online to check your financial status regularly are all great ways to spot any weird activity happening with our checking account. As soon as you discover something that does not match up, contact your bank immediately to rectify the situation.

As technology advances, so do the ways that criminals commit crimes. Credit card fraud for online purchases alone topped $4 billion in 2008. One crime that is on the rise is credit card fraud, but there are some simple steps consumers can take to help prevent them from becoming the next statistic.

Credit card fraud and identity theft are on the rise, and many people have been the victims of these crimes. As a way to prevent credit card fraud and identity theft, the credit industry has come up with what is called a “credit card fraud alert.” Credit card fraud alerts are a crucial weapon in the war against credit crimes.

Credit card fraud is a seemingly unstoppable crime  with 1 out of every 10 Americans being a victim of credit card fraud. Criminals have dozens of ways to get the credit card numbers from unsuspecting card holders. From rifling through the garbage bins at apartment complexes, to using Radio Frequency Identification to virtual swipe credit card info from cards enabled by PayPass, to online phishing scams, and eavesdropping  on phone calls then copying down credit card information they over hear.