Government Takes on Mortgage Fraud with Toll Free Numbers

Despite the major shakeup of the mortgage industry over the last couple of years, fraud has actually been on the rise. In an attempt to shore up the bleed and recoup billions in losses ahead of the 2012 presidential election, this has the government launching new investigations and soliciting help from whistle blowers via toll free numbers.

Wells Fargo was one of the recent victims of this new crusade and news today reveals a $1 billion lawsuit against Bank of America. However, this not only extends to the nation's largest banking institutions but individual real estate investors and homeowners who have been scrambling to cash in on the availability of short sales before end of the year deadlines.

This has spurred a new trend in "flopping" houses in which owners purposely devalue their properties to gain maximum debt forgiveness only to have them flipped for huge profits the next day. Some have gone even beyond ripping out cabinets and letting the yard go wild to spreading animal urine in homes and reporting the presence of meth labs. Freddie Mac who holds many of these distressed home loans has rolled out a new toll free number to solicit tips and clamp down on the process.

This follows on from recent news about how one UBS banker took down the Swiss banking industry and received $104 million dollar reward for it thanks to the IRS' whistle blowing program and toll free fraud hotline.

With the economy the way it is and many individuals desperate for an easy paycheck and having worn out their fingernails on scratch offs that fail to pay, many entrepreneurs could find themselves targets. So before rushing out to buy that new iPad mini or Microsoft Surface or scooping up a new home on the cheap, you might want to make sure your taxes are paid.