The FBI Mortgage Fraud Task Force has been investigating brokers, lenders, appraiser, and anyone else who could possibly be or was involved in defrauding homeowners and bankers. At the moment 3 top names that are being investigated by a federal grand jury are Countrywide Financial, IndyMac, and New Century Financial. These 3 also recently went under due to the crumbling market. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that investigators are also watching the founder of Countrywide, Angelo Mozilo, to find out if he gave mortgage deals to high up friends, politicians, and Congress members.

As far as other guilty parties, for the month of July, many related with the mortgage profession in Maryland, Florida, Washington, and other locations, have been charged with ripping off lenders and homeowners from a figure somewhere in the million dollar range.

The U.S. Justice Dept recently caught over 400 people from their Operation Malicious Mortgage. It is reported that the damages incurred from those 400, total over $1 billion in losses. Deputy Attorney Gen. Mark Filip, had commented on these instances saying that, "Mortgage fraud and related securities fraud pose a significant threat to our economy, to the stability of our nation's housing market and to the peace of mind of millions of American homeowners,"

The most common occurrences of mortgage fraud come from industry professionals, which the FBI labels "fraud for profit". Almost 80% of fraud loss comes from this category. Examples are inflated appraisals, fake documents, stolen identity/credit history,and fake buyers. Recently in Las Vegas, 5 people were found guilty of costing banks almost $17 million. They rang a ring of using fake home buyers with fake loan applications. They would then purchase a property, remove the equity and then default on the mortgage. Other common situations involve industry professionals supposedly helping a faulty borrower to save their home from foreclosure. In reality, the professional actually takes the home title, removes all the equity and then bails on the home. A man from Maryland was recently charged for doing just this, he conspired with the Metropolitan Money Store, and ripped off many home owners and banks. He could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

The other type of fraud that is less common, is ¨fraud for housing¨ this is where the borrower is the being fraudulent, by lying about his income or employment in order to get a loan.

While the investigation and persecution of these criminals is a positive sign, many are not sure if it will be able to make a big dent in these crimes, as it is a huge problem occurring all over the United States. Some feel the key is to more closely watch lenders and related professionals, to prevent fraud before rather then after it occurs, regulating rather then prosecuting. Todd Fosters, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, says that "The deterrent will come through better regulation and underwriting standards,...I'm not sure these prosecutions will have as great an effect as that."