Mortgage Fraud Is Rarely Prosecuted
Although bank robbers steal less, they’re a lot more likely to be prosecuted criminally than those who commit mortgage fraud and deed thefts.
Lacking staff and resources to pursue such complex real estate cases, prosecutors in New York have tended to treat them as civil matters even as they proliferated in recent years and wreaked devastating consequences on many homeowners and the economy, according to the New York Times.
“Bank robbers average less than $2,000 and face a 75 percent chance of being caught; a mortgage fraud ring walks away with hundreds of thousands of dollars per house, prosecutors say, and runs little risk of arrest,” the newspaper writes in a detailed article about the problem.
News coverage suggests that the same issues routinely discourage prosecution of those who steal homes and mortgage funding in other jurisdictions, too. While a few high-profile cases grab headlines and a number of prosecutors say they are increasing the number of criminal investigations, it appears that a massive amount of real estate-related fraud has swamped government resources.
