The number of reports filed by banks and credit unions that suspect mortgage fraud slid more than a quarter last year. Also lower were the number of instances involving appraisal insiders.
A total of 1,582,879 Suspicious Activity Reports were filed during 2012. A year earlier, the total was 1,521,227 SARs filed.
Out of all of last year’s SARs filings, 860,858 were filed by depository institutions.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network outlined the findings in a pair of reports released Wednesday. The first is The SAR Activity Review – By the Numbers, and the second report is SAR Activity Review – Trends Tips & Issues.
While overall activity was higher than in 2011, SARs tied to mortgage fraud declined 29 percent.
The 2012 total for mortgage loan fraud SARs was 65,819, tumbling from 92,563 the prior year.
“Until 2012, mortgage loan fraud was the only summary characterization that had experienced an increase every year since 1996, with the past three years accounting for nearly 46 percent of all noted instances of this specific activity for the last decade,” the report said.
Among mortgage fraud filings from Jan. 1 through June 30 of this year, 1,014 involved company insiders, making the likely annual number around 2,000, a little less than the 2,365 insiders identified in 2011. This number will be lower three years in a row if 2013 trends hold.
The report indicated that 28 appraiser insider relationships were identified in first-half 2012 SARs, putting the year on pace to see around 56. That would be a big drop from 115 in 2011 and the third consecutive annual decline.
