Faked passports enable $10 million in residential equity loan fraud

Eric Haruki

November 4, 2021

October 20, 2021 – Miami, FL

Seven Florida and New Jersey fraudsters were convicted in a scheme that drained close to $10 million of equity from luxury South Florida homes. The criminals obtained personally identifiable information (PII) of the property owners and created fake passports to trick lenders into providing mortgage loans on unencumbered and unoccupied residential properties. With fake passports in hand the audacious fraudsters would attend loan closings and then wire out funds to external accounts, ultimately purchasing cars, watches, and other high end goods with their ill-gotten gains.