Canada has just announced a Financial Crimes Agency that will centralize enforcement, coordinate with U.S. regulators, and make cross-border compliance a full-time, mandatory job. If your AML infrastructure still runs on spreadsheets and hope, this is your final warning.
The financial lending industry runs on a vast and complex system that will always attract individuals with ulterior motives. In the United States, mortgage fraud cases were rampant in the years prior to the 2008 global financial crisis. Things have considerably improved since those dark days, but this doesn't mean we should let our guard down, which is why learning to recognize mortgage fraud red flags is vital.