James Lytle and Martin Valadez ran a mortgage fraud operation. They submitted falsified applications and loan documents to mortgage lenders to finance the sale of real estate to straw purchasers. For procuring the purchasers and loans, Messrs. Lytle & Valadez obtained kickbacks from the sellers out of proceeds of the sales. See Mar. 15, […]
Whether your business has a staff of 2 or 200, protecting the business from any kind of fraud, including identity theft, requires a team effort. For businesses that have databases with personal identifiers such as names, addresses, social security numbers and dates of birth, the security of that data poses a special risk to both […]
Customers sometimes attempt to use identity fraud on a landlord or finance company. For example, last summer I attempted to rent out a condominium over the internet. I am not a realtor. I received an inquiry from “Ed” on behalf of his friend. At the showing, I was surprised to meet not only Ed and his […]
On February 28, 2012, Brandon Lee Price was charged with wire fraud in connection with his unauthorized use of Microsoft founder Paul Allen’s debit card. Price is a U.S. Army deserter who used Allen’s debit card to attempt over $15,000.00 in transactions. He obtained the card by calling Allen’s bank and changing the address and […]