When people work with a bank or mortgage company, they want to make sure that their money is safe from fraud. However, financial institution fraud. Read on to learn more about this type of fraud.
What is financial institution fraud?
Financial institution fraud is committed against financial institutions, including banks and mortgage companies. It involves the illegal act of obtaining money or property from a bank, company or individual by making false representations. This type of fraud is often considered a white-collar crime, and it can result in both civil and criminal penalties for those convicted.
Common types of bank fraud
Some of the most common bank fraud schemes include bank embezzlement, check kiting and ATM skimming. Bank embezzlement typically involves an employee of a bank stealing money from customer accounts or even the bank itself by manipulating records to hide their tracks. Check kiting involves a person creating bank accounts with either no money or insufficient funds to cover the checks they write but keeping deposits small so that it doesn’t raise alarms. ATM skimming involves the use of a device at an ATM machine to steal bank account information from unsuspecting people who use the machine for their banking needs.
Common types of mortgage fraud
Bank and mortgage fraud are often similar, but the latter mostly involves the illegal act of obtaining a home loan under false pretenses. It is not uncommon for some to use falsified documents, including bank statements and tax returns during the mortgage process, in order to receive a larger loan amount than they would have qualified for based on their actual bank statements and tax returns.
The penalty for someone of convicted of financial institution fraud will depend largely on the severity of the crime. It’s important for someone accused of this type of fraud to mount a defense if they want to avoid the harshest penalties.