An interesting news case from this past week is the source for the posting today. In a recent press release by the Queens, NY District Attorney at http://tinyurl.com/n9bwbj Shawn Corcas plead guilty to stealing the identity of a 68 year handicapped man and stealing his house. What is staggering about this is that he almost got away with it. They do not say how he was caught, but the fact he no longer has all the money and needs time to repay it,would seem to imply that he had a little fun before he was stopped.
According to the DA, Corcas and his sister created a company, Profit & Profit which they operated out of his residence. A fake drivers license in the name of the victim was used at the closing to establish identity and a mortgage issued to the buyer was obtained using a fraudulent power of attorney, along with false income, employment and asset records. The money from the sale of victims house was then deposited into the Profit and Profit’s bank account. The fake buyer and fake seller did not attend the closing.
What is amazing to me is that this flew by the mortgage company and the closing company! It appears that there were several Red Flags on this transaction and yet it appears no one stopped to think about them.
We hear about cases of ID Fraud every day. It is clear that the ID Thieves are getting bolder and bolder.
Statistics show that approximately 31% of ID thieves have a driver’s license that passes inspection. 5.3% of ID Fraud involves filing false tax returns to obtain a fraudulent refund. 7% of ID fraud uses some sort of attorney’s services.
These are frightening numbers. In order to fight these thieves, it is clear to me that you need to get into the data behind the drivers license or ID and verify information that the thief will not find in a wallet or will be able to remember easily.
Simply put, I believe that the Red Flags Rule Policy may have very well stopped this case of ID Fraud from occurring. A simple few moments of the closing company or mortgage company to verify the identity would have been all it would take.
Imagine what the true cost of the damage is in this situation. The victim lost his home, foreclosure is imminent as the fraudulent mortgage remains unpaid. Sure, the crook has to pay restitution, but that is simply the proceeds from the sale of the house he deposited in his company’s bank account. What is the real cost of this ID Fraud? The cost to the taxpayer for all of the investigation, the mortgage companies losses for not verifying the mortgage information, the closing title for their reputation and not to mention the victim, who at 68, looses his home!
Can we afford not to comply with the red flags rule? How long do you and I have to keep paying for recklessness behavior because businesses don’t want to spend a few extra minutes to verify the ID?
Do you disagree? Please feel free to comment and tell me why.
