Lost Wallet's ID Cards Spawned Mortgage Fraud

Washington Post ^ | July 31, 2007 | Tom Jackman

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It was a little baffling when Jose F. Lara got a check in the mail for almost $2,800 from a bank in Arlington County in December. When the bank told him that it was the overpayment on his second mortgage, things got really baffling.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Lenders should be held liable for complicity in situations like this.

[ccmay]

It's remarkable how sophisticated these crooks are.

I find it challenging to wade through the mortgage loan application process, have never heard of a "gift deed", and would have no idea how to make one. These people are doing all that, and in a foreign (to them) country.

If they had applied that kind of native intelligence, bold self-confidence, and persistence to legitimate pursuits, the newspaper would be writing articles about an "Immigrant Success Story."

--ccm

[rabscuttle385]

It’s in Northern Virginia, and, judging by the last names and the fact that I live here, I would say that the folks stealing the identity are probably illegals.

[sheana]

The brother has since left the country, Salvado said.

Was that your clue? lol I agree, sounds like illegals.

[driftdiver]

I just bought a house and was told the amount of fraud going on is amazing. Everything from people paying twice the value and getting massive cash back to forged id’s.

[pabianice]

Lenders should be held liable for complicity in situations like this.

Absolutely.

[Hydroshock]

At least the lenders should pay us for our time in straightening this out.

[raybbr]

Cabrera-Rivera did not make a statement in court -- other than to blurt out, "I'm guilty of all of this" -- but her attorney, Alberto Salvado, said the scam was "a result of not only her unclean hands, but also the mortgage brokers from the beginning, who allowed this loan to go through without checking the income taxes of Jose Lara." Salvado said it was difficult for Cabrera-Rivera to buy a house, and so with her brother allegedly posing as Lara, she obtained financing from predatory lenders.

Oh boy. The defense is that they didn't check the financial status of the guy whose identity they were stealing?

Lawyers need to disappear,

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The defense is that they didn't check the financial status of the guy whose identity they were stealing?

It's not a defense for the perps, but the victims ought to be entitled to damages from the lender.

That alone would stop this sort of nonsense.

[aimhigh]

but the victims ought to be entitled to damages from the lender.

Congress has made sure that can't happen.