With all the talk about predatory lending, mortgage meltdowns, etc in the past few years, it's discouraging to note that mortgage fraudsters are still ripping people off.

According to today's Inquirer, the number of consumer complaints about mortgage fraud have risen:

...recent data from the Lexis-Nexis Mortgage Asset Research Institute in Chicago show that the incidence of fraud in 2009 increased 7 percentage points over 2008's levels. In 2008, fraud reports rose 26 percentage points from the previous year.

The institute collects and provides data - suspicious-activities reports, or SARS - to subscribers, including mortgage lenders. If you want to compare numbers, there were 67,190 such reports collected in 2009, compared with 63,713 in 2008, and 46,717 in 2007.

The 2009 increase was small, but officials say they believe a lot of scam artists are going high-tech.

"Technology has provided fraudsters with the ability to access information, conduct criminal activities and remain anonymous via the Internet, and manipulate processes that rely on the need for expediency," said the institute's Jennifer Butts.

"Although technology is an enabler of fraud perpetration, for the scammer there must be a system to beat and/or a victim to manipulate," she said.

If you've been the victim of predatory lending or mortgage fraud, contact us - we may be able to help.