Who’s SARry Now? New Stats Show Suspected Financial Fraud Is Up, Up, Up. And Up

Suspicious Activity Report (“SAR”) filings for the first six months of 2009 indicating suspected Mortgage Loan Fraud remain at a historically high level, according to a report released today by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN"). Moreover, activities involving suspected check fraud, including traveler's checks and counterfeit checks, show significant increases in 2009 across all of the industries required to file SARs. Compared to the corresponding time periods from the previous year, depository institutions' Check Fraud SARs increased 19 percent and their Counterfeit Check SARs increased 36 percent. SARs filed by Money Services Businesses show a 76 percent increase in suspected fraud involving Traveler's Checks. SARs filed by casinos indicate an 18 percent rise in suspicious activity involving checks. Suspicious Activity Reports by the Securities and Futures Industries (SAR-SFs) reveal a 19 percent increase in Check Fraud.

According to the FinCEN report, the total number of SAR-SFs filed show a 29 percent increase compared to the same period in 2008. Over similar time periods, SAR-SFs reporting "Bribery/Gratuity" increased 95 percent. SAR-SFs reporting "Wash or Other Fictitious Trading" increased 150 percent. Significant SAR-SF increases were also noted for Mail Fraud, up 52 percent, and Wire Fraud, up 56 percent. SAR-SF filings characterizing the instrument types as Foreign Currency Futures (450 reports) and Foreign Currencies (252 reports) increased significantly from the 17 and 83 respective reports filed in the same period of 2008.
 
Four percent of the increase in SAR-SF filings is due to increased filings by the insurance industry.