William Stern, Supervisory Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation working out of the West Palm Beach office, told attendees of the MBA Fraud Issues Conference today that the FBI’s case load has risen dramatically. Whereas the agency was dealing with 1,644 cases just 2 months ago, it’s now working on over 2,000 cases. Stern said that the task force approach works to turn cases into specific projects with a systematic flow of information. When Suspicious Activity Reports or other lender fraud reports surface, the task force look back in time to help build the case. He said that undercover operations and stings are an incredibly efficient at stopping mortgage fraud and getting convictions. He said “getting a perpetrator on tape is worth 30 boxes of documents.” He added that the lending industry was in a unique position to identify potential fraud and get cases started. More to follow…