Fannie Mae issues mortgage fraud alert for Southern California

Fannie Mae is warning mortgage lenders and servicers about possible fraud schemes in Los Angeles County involving "34 apparently fictitious employers being used on loan applications."

Lenders should "exercise due diligence in reviewing the entire loan file" if one of the businesses named comes up in a loan application, according to a recent fraud alert Fannie posted online.

The following entities were listed as the borrower's purported place(s) of employment but whose existence Fannie Mae could not confirm: A1 Data Programming, AMR Global Research, Axis Programming, BA Transport, Bella Donna Academy, Bridge Worldwide Financial, Buenaventura Construction Group, Calimex Distributors, Camarillo Home Healthcare, Cayton Systems, Civa Home Solutions, Concord Concrete, Core Natural Beauty Products, Dataplus Communications, Direct Choice Financial, Elite Restaurant Management, Emtron Software Developers, EZ Maintenance, Green Energy Development, Jana Collins Cosmetics, LA Best Restaurant Group, Master & Media, Med Plus Medical Billing Services, MJ Home Health Services, OC Media Developers, Ocean Trade Imports and Exports, Ontic Global, Pacific Logistics International, Power Pack Consultants, Prime Medical Group, Sentryx Media & Motion Pictures, Shield Technologies, Tech Direct and USA Extended Auto Care.

The list of allegedly fictitious employers in Southern California is subject to change, according to Fannie Mae. The entities named are listed on applications as being based in one of the following 23 municipalities: Bakersfield, Burbank, Calabasas, Commerce, Chatsworth, Culver City, El Segundo, Encino, Glendale, Granada Hills, Irvine, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Moorpark, North Hollywood, Northridge, Reseda, Sun City, Sun Valley, Tarzana, Valencia, West Covina and Westlake Village.

Other "red flags" listed in the government-sponsored enterprise's fraud alert are loans originated between 2015 and 2018 through third-party origination channels, including mortgages sourced by brokers.

Employment verification is becoming more automated in line with efforts to create a more digital mortgage process, but smaller employers in particular still may need to be verified manually.