We've noted before that fraud (fraud news) and the mortgage industry seem to fit like a hand and a tailored glove. The New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (Andrew Cuomo news) has sent out 210 cease and desist letters recently. The last 31 went out this week.

The alleged improprieties are not surprising. The scammers know the residential real estate terrain all too well. The list of improprieties and frauds include "charging up-front fees for consulting services, failing to fully disclose the purpose of fees in written contracts with homeowners, failing to allow homeowners to cancel their contracts within five business days of signing and using deceptive and misleading advertising," notes FOX News. The rise of this sort of crime certainly makes the whole modification and recovery process that much harder.

While the large scale offenders seem to get the most regulatory notice, there are a lot of small scams going on that will never be discovered as the perps are smart enough to stay under the radar.

For more:
- here's the article

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