Obama´s administration is pumping out a lot of funds to try and help homeowners, to the tune of $75 billion. The problem is that besides attracting struggling homeowners, these actions are also drawing in the predators. Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary, commented that "Those who would seek to prey on the most vulnerable also seek to intensify their efforts as well,...We will aggressively pursue those involved in mortgage rescue scams." To counteract potential crime, many federal agencies (the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Treasury, as well as State attorney generals) are teaming up to better catch and prevent mortgage and foreclosure scams.

The Federal Trade Commission has been reviewing online and print ads that proclaim to assist troubled borrowers, and have found that there are "71 distinct companies running suspicious ads,". So far they have filed five civil cases against those so called companies, one of which that had spent over $9 million in radio/TV ads in less then one year. The Chairman for the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, remarked that "These companies are kicking people when they're down, charging enormous upfront fees and sabotaging homeowners who could be getting help for free,...These companies are giving people false hope. They are shameless, as well as opportunistic." The Treasury is also helping by sending all financial institutions a checklist to help them better determine if any companies they come across are fraudulent.

Currently the FBI is looking into over 2,100 cases of mortgage fraud, which is over a 400% increase over a five year period, which is astounding considering that the number of home loans being issued has lowered. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan, spoke to a congressional panel last week, telling them that hopefully the organizations teaming together will give more assistance to the FBI and Justice Department on cracking down on fraud.