Appraisers' Free Forum

Since January, Miami-Dade County police have arrested 30 people for mortgage fraud as part of an ongoing effort to stem the occurence of the pervasive crime.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez on Tuesday announced the arrests of 30 people on charges related to mortgage fraud, as he highlighted the ongoing efforts of a public-private task force charged with cracking down on the prevalent white-collar crime.

The arrests, carried out over the last six months, bring the number of arrests to 56 since the mortgage-fraud task force was formed in September.

Real-estate professionals, including agents, mortgage brokers and appraisers were among those arrested as well as people who had sold their identities so homes could be bought in so-called straw-buyer schemes.

''What is really disturbing is you can see the fraud occurring at all levels,'' Alvarez said, noting that lenders were also guilty to the extent they made loans without confirming borrowers' identities or the information in mortgage applications.

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