I Bought a “Legal” CPN – Here’s What Happened.
Credit Repair companies have a new gimmick designed to lead ordinary consumers down a very slippery slope and it’s called a CPN (Credit Privacy Number). The companies claim that “CPN’s are a nine-digit identification number that looks like a social security number (SSN) and may be used in lieu of an SSN, for such purposes […]
Fake Employment Service Can Help Loan Fraudsters
You can buy anything on the internet these days. And that includes everything you need to commit the perfect loan fraud. Whether it is generating a fake social security number at SSN Validator or pretending you are a very rich person by creating fake pay-stubs at Paystub Creator you can be anyone to anybody if […]
35 Lies People Tell on Auto Loan Applications
Lies, lies, lies. I was talking to someone the other day and they asked me a simple question “What is auto lending fraud? Do people actually lie on their auto loan applications?” It doesn’t seem like something that would actually happen very often right? I mean the person has to go to the car dealership […]
Moo! How Crazy Cows Shifted Thieves to Auto Fraud
What do crazy cows have to do with fraud? A lot actually. But you have to go back over 30 years to find the link between the two. An associate of mine sent me an article that appeared in the New York Times in 1982 and it talks about the tremendous demand for stolen luxury […]
Are Liar Loans Pushing Fraud Too Far in Auto Lending?
The Auto Lending Industry could be in for rough waters. Ben Eisen, a Wall Street Journalist investigated the issue of Liar Loans and remarks in this video how eerily similar the problem seems to be compared to the Mortgage Crisis of 2007. 1 in 4 loans have inflated income. And that’s just what we know […]
Social Security Number Fraud Hits Auto Loans Hard
PointPredictive press released a widespread scheme involving the structuring of social security numbers used to create synthetic identities for potentially fraudulent auto loans. The scheme involves applicants, or in some cases bad actors at car dealerships, using valid Social Security Number prefixes (the first 5 digits of a valid SSN) and systematically changing the suffixes […]
House of Cards – 1 In 5 Auto Loans Contain Income Fraud
An article in the Wall Street Journal was published which indicated that 1 in 5 borrower applications have inflated incomes. The article written by Ben Eisen exposes some dealers that lie about the income to get loans approved and put the borrowers in cars that they could not otherwise afford. The article also indicated that, […]
Fraudsters Target Luxury Cars With CyberCrime Scams
Fraudsters are using far more technical crimes to steal from car dealerships and auto lenders these days. And the newest method of choice for them is cyber-crime. In recent industry reports, cyber-criminals have significantly increased their attacks using wire transfer fraud, high tech data breaches and even introducing malware onto the dealer and lenders systems. […]
Porsche Dealer Victim Of $3 Million Identity Fraud
Identity theft is one of the most prolific frauds of this century and the lengths fraudsters will go to pull off the perfect scheme seemingly has no end. And while you will read about plenty of identity theft cases involving stealing a person’s identity you have probably never read about a car dealer becoming a […]
Wake up call for Auto Lenders – Fraud is Here to Stay
Another week, another high profile auto lending fraud case. Not a week has gone by in the last month where the DOJ has not announced a large bust of a multi-million dollar fraud ring. In each case, the fraudsters are able to hit many lenders in sequence with ridiculously simple schemes and steal millions of […]
Another Huge Phantom Auto Loan Fraud Strikes
The industry was rocked with another massive auto loan fraud perpetrated by criminals that engaged in a Phantom auto loan scheme. Phantom loan schemes have emerged in the last 24 months and occur when borrowers and sellers collude to create fake loan transactions. In some cases, the perpetrators are unscrupulous dealers passing off non-existent cars, and in […]
The Surprising Rise of Down Payment Fraud in Auto
Tom Dunson went to a car dealer to buy a used car. He didn’t have any cash to put down to buy and his FICO score wasn’t so great so he wasn’t very hopeful he could do it. But when he walked into the dealership, the sales guy convinced him that they could make something […]
Synthetic Identity Fraud Rockets Up in Auto Lending
Auto Lenders should beware. Borrowers using false Social Security Numbers and so-called Credit Privacy Numbers (CPN’s) to apply for auto loans is on the rise and wreaking more havoc than ever. Borrowers use false social security numbers to establish new credit profiles to disguise their true identities so that they can qualify for loans that […]
Dealer Forged Docs On 50% of Their Auto Loans
A car dealership in Charleston South Carolina – Hoover Mitsubishi has been flagged for allegedly defrauding scores of lenders by submitting fraudulent applications for car loans. This week, FBI agents raided the dealership and seized computers, records after two confidential witnesses told the FBI that three employees at the dealership submitted false information to at least […]
$5 Million Dollar Auto Fraud Case Hits San Diego
A massive, 18-month long vehicle fraud case in San Diego came to an end yesterday with the arrest of 21 perpetrators who operated in an organized crime ring. It was the largest vehicle theft case in the history of San Diego and the California Highway Patrol believes this is just part of a new wave […]
BMW Fights The Rise in Straw Borrower Fraud
Soaring vehicle tax rates levied on US car exports in China have created an arbitrage opportunity for fraudsters that can get their hands ahold of luxury cars. Last year China slapped an additional 25% tariff on imports making luxury cars very, very expensive. And the fraudsters have moved into Canada to take advantage of this […]
America’s First Auto Fraud Case 1941
I always thought Auto Lending Fraud scams were a relatively new phenomenon. After all, white-collar crime has risen as banking and new technologies have emerged over the last 20 years. But boy was I wrong. About a week ago, I decided to challenge myself and find the oldest case of auto lending fraud that I […]
7 Red Flags in Auto Finance Fraud
Matt Wood wrote a great article for PowerSports Finance that originally appeared here – 7 Red Flags that An Application Might Be Fraudulent. As part of that article, he interviewed industry experts and fraud professionals such as myself to understand what makes an auto finance application risky. When there are information discrepancies If the information doesn’t […]
19 Banks Hit with Phantom Auto Loan Fraud Scam
Credit Unions continued to get pounded by auto lending fraud. Just this week the Department of Justice revealed a massive auto loan scheme that targeted credit unions – DOJ Phantom Loan Scheme. A federal jury in Charlotte returned a guilty verdict late yesterday against Kimberlie L. Flemings, 49, of Mt. Holly, N.C. for her role […]
Synthetic Identity Up 500% in Auto Lending Since 2011
Synthetic Identity is a big problem for auto lenders. But I didn’t realize how big a problem it was until I read this eye popping report from Chicago based Trans Union. According the report, synthetic identity fraud is not only rising year over year but looking back over the last 7 years has seen a […]
Car Dealer Slapped With Massive Fine for Loan Fraud
Hallman Chevrolet in PA was slapped with a massive $2 million dollar fine for loan fraud this week. If you factor in the average profit they might make from selling a car of $2,000 that means that the dealership is going to have to sell about 1,000 cars to make up for the huge fine […]