Law Times

Page 2 February 25, 2013 �� Law Times ��� NEWS Fraud prevention month Keen eye helps lawyer halt mortgage scam BY BREANNE NICHOLSON For Law Times A middle-aged fraudster posing as an 80-year-old woman was unable to take out a large mortgage thanks to the investigative work of an Ontario lawyer. When presented with a questionable mortgage file last spring, Eric Nguyen of the Nguyen Law Office in Mississauga, Ont., thought something was suspicious about the application for a $425,000 loan to remortgage an elderly woman���s home. ���From the beginning, there were some red flags that kind of came up,��� says Nguyen, who notes the fees were similar to those involved in a commercial transaction. ���That���s one of the first things that caught my attention.��� Nguyen didn���t come in contact with the fraudster until he arranged a meeting with her. In fact, all discussions were through the mortgage broker who originally gave him the file. After conducting some title searches, he noticed a woman born in 1932 who didn���t have a mortgage owned the $500,000 home in Richmond Hill, Ont. ���There are other ways that they could obtain a mortgage. So I wondered: Why is she do- ���When something does not feel right, go with ing this?��� says Nguyen. ���If she your gut, investigate further, ask questions,��� says needed money, she probably Silvia Camara. could go to any bank to get a have been cancelled and all that line of credit.��� But at the beginning, Nguyen they would have to do is maybe didn���t question whether or not shift it and go to a different lawthe case was fraudulent and yer who let all of this go,��� says decided to ���wait and see what Nguyen, who instead submitted a notice of concern to First Cawould transpire.��� ���If I were to raise the issue nadian Title Co. Ltd. noting he���d too soon, then the deal might provide an update on the issue CANADIAN LAW LIST 2013 YOUR INSTANT CONNECTION TO CANADA���S LEGAL NETWORK Inside you will ���nd: of more than 58,000 barristers, solicitors and Quebec notaries, corporate counsel, law ���rms and judges in Canada; for the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Canada, Federal Cabinet Ministers, departments, boards, commissions and Crown corporations; February each year L88804-590 L88804-590 Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. lawyer, Dino Cirone. ���I didn���t want this to happen to this lady who actually owns the house,��� says Nguyen, who notes one of his fears was that the fraudster would get the loan processed by another lawyer before he reached the real homeowner. Cirone says the victim has been a client of his for about 30 years. Thanks to Nguyen���s efforts, he was able to set up a title insurance policy before the fraudster could strike again. Nguyen doesn���t know what the next steps may be for the homeowner, but according to Camara, the authorities are now looking into the case. ���We haven���t heard about any other attempts to use her identity,��� says Cirone of his client. ���But it���s still ongoing.��� According to Wendy Rinella, vice president of corporate affairs at First Canadian Title, the case was one of the most significant fraud attempts the company saw in 2012. Overall, the company identified about $24 million in suspected residential fraud during the last year alone. And the numbers are on the rise. ���If anything, they���re getting more sophisticated at it, so it���s our job to just keep up with the trends and to keep up with our training and work together with the lawyers,��� says Camara. With fraud prevention month beginning this week, Camara suggests the best way lawyers can prevent a fraud case is to ���be careful with your referrals.��� ���When something does not feel right, go with your gut, investigate further, ask questions,��� says Camara. Given his3/1/06 6:50:10 AMwith experience KFOC06107_AllSmallAds_CT.pdf the case, Nguyen says there are a few things lawyers can do to protect themselves from future fraud attempts. ���As lawyers, we need to pay a little bit more attention to the files that we���re working on,��� says Nguyen, who notes fraudKidney disease sters will typically try to process can affect anyone. loans Please give generously.over on a long weekend or the holidays.www.kidney.ca ���We all know that and with LawPRO and the law society putting out these reminders for lawyers to be actively involved and try2.125��� x 1.5��� that these verB ��� to make sure IDs are legitimate, I think it will prevent a lot of these frauds from happening.��� LT after he met the borrower. But after he came in contact with the client, the ���person sitting in front of him��� looked like she was about 50 years old and not born in 1932. ���Either that or she has some secret anti-aging thing that I would love to know.��� Instead of processing the file, Nguyen looked into his suspicions and discovered that the credit card number provided to him was a fake. And that���s when Nguyen decided to take action and confront the fraudster. But according to Nguyen, the borrower denied the accusations and ���took off quite abruptly.��� The next steps involved two phone calls: one to Silvia Camara, a residential underwriter for First Canadian Title, and another to the homeowner���s related to each province for the Courts of Appeal, Supreme Courts, County and District Courts, Provincial Courts, law societies, law schools, Legal Aid, and other law-related of���ces of importance. MORE THAN A PHONE BOOK March is Kidney Health Month. Please give generously. Visit carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation Untitled-1 1 www.lawtimesnews.com Kidney disease can affect anyone. 13-01-29 3:10 PM Because we���re behind you all the way. www.kidney.ca verD ��� 2.125��� x 2.375���

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