When considering real estate investments, we must always be careful to make sure not to get involved with those are conducting real estate frauds. Unfortunately there are fraudulent real estate agents, real estate brokers, and even real estate companies. Consider the following data provided by the IRS:

According to the IRS, in recent years, the booming real estate market has helped increase mortgage fraud and other phony real estate related schemes. The perpetrators of these schemes range from mortgage brokers looking to make a fast buck to drug dealers laundering their ill-gotten gains.

Every year, these fraudulent real estate schemes victimize individuals and businesses from many walks of life, including struggling low-income families lured into home loans they can’t afford, legitimate lenders saddled with over-inflated mortgages and honest real estate investors fleeced out of their investment dollars.

The number of real estate fraud investigations initiated by IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) doubled between Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 and Fiscal Year 2003. Similarly, the average prison term handed out by federal judges to defendants in these schemes nearly doubled over the same period.FY2004 statistics reflect a three year high of the number of cases recommended for prosecution as well as indicted, convicted and incarcerated.