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As police budgets are spread thin across the country, education is being looked at as the best weapon in the fight to prevent elder financial abuse.

"We're right up against it. Resources will never keep up with the need," said Det. Rick Anthony, fraud investigator with Victoria police. "All we can do is combat it with knowledge and get the word out there."

Anthony, one of only two fraud investigators in the Victoria department - he estimates there may be only a dozen of them between RCMP and municipal detachments on the Island - said while police forces deem fraud and elder financial abuse to be as important as robbery and physical crimes, it just doesn't get the manpower.

http://www.cisc.gc.ca/products_services/mortgage_fraud/mortgage_fraud_e.html

Issue

The purpose of this assessment is to outline how mortgage fraud occurs and examine the nature and scope of organized crime’s involvement in this fraud type in Canada.

Highlights

According to industry estimates, losses from mortgage fraud in Canada range into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Some criminal groups are each responsible for losses, primarily to financial institutions, of tens of millions of dollars. Mortgage fraud can leave victims with inflated property values, higher property taxes, an inability to sell their homes, or damaged credit histories.

Following the location of strong housing markets across the country, mortgage fraud occurs nationally but is more concentrated in the large urban areas in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia (B.C.).

Numerous criminal groups across Canada are involved in a wide variety of mortgage frauds for profit or to further other criminal activities. Some undertake a limited number of relatively simple mortgage-related frauds while others commit multiple mortgage frauds involving anywhere from several dozen to over one hundred properties.

Mortgage fraud schemes undertaken by organized crime groups will become increasingly sophisticated through the use of technology, for example, involving online sources of fraudulent documents, such as black-market websites, to obtain stolen or counterfeit financial information.

Financial institutions’ heavy reliance on computer-automated underwriting and property-valuation systems to conduct mortgage transactions, coupled with the difficulty of verifying the borrower’s income or identity, will continue to be a major vulnerability contributing to mortgage fraud.

Criminal groups across the country will remain involved in mortgage frauds for profit, as there are always ways to illicitly manipulate the age, size and value of a property. Organized crime will continue to exploit professionals within the financial and real-estate industries who will knowingly or unknowingly assist them in their fraudulent activities.

"A good crook can beat a smart lawyer any day of the week.”

That's the view of Sidney Troister of Torkin Manes LLP of Toronto, who says that he has seen lots of crooks in his 12 years fighting mortgage fraud, and that the schemes just keep coming.

Mortgage fraud was rampant in the earlier part of this decade, and a number of Canadian lawyers were involved in systematic frauds involving dozens of properties, costing victims millions of dollars. There are indications that the problem has waned. But despite recent regulatory changes and greater consumer awareness, the problem hasn't been eradicated.

by karim bardeesy - Globe and Mail Update

FSI Fraud Security Investigations was originally formed as Everest Communications Inc., and DBS Communications Inc, and operated as a major national electronics security integrator, providing major security infrastructure for Canadian military national defense systems, government installations and private sector facilities.