Appraisal Firm Caught Allegedly Recruiting Appraisers Through The Internet As A Ruse To Steal Their Personal Identity

The Real Deal blog posted this story:

"A Whitestone real estate appraisal company and its CEO have been indicted for allegedly stealing identities of appraisers and inflating property values. D & T National Appraisals and CEO Donato Odato, 54, are charged with forgery, falsifying business records, identity theft, scheming to defraud and conspiracy.

Odato allegedly recruited appraisers through the Internet as a ruse to steal their personal identity and then allegedly forged their names on appraisals filed with residential mortgage applications. The alleged scheme was discovered after the appraisers were accused of inflating property values and lost work."

Now . . .I don't normally repost appraisal fraud stories, as there are usually plenty of folks that love to take shots at appraisers and there's no need for me to pile on so-to-speak.  But in this case, the appraisal firm was alegedly harming other appraisers! 

Mortgage Fraud Blog, indicates that these appraiser creeps were indicted on not one, not ten, not 100 but 397 counts! of the following: Click here

• second- and third-degree forgery
• criminal possession of a forged instrument
• first- and second-degree falsifying business records
• first- and third-degree identity theft
• first-degree scheme to defraud
• fifth-degree conspiracy

The alleged scheme came to light when financial institutions began reaching out to the appraisers who allegedly had their identities stolen and advised them that their services would no longer be needed due to their inappropriate and highly inflated valuations of properties based on falsified data. The appraisers, in turn, contacted the Queens District Attorney’s Office to report the identity theft.

Click here for the Queens DA Press Release: Queens Real Estate Appraisal Firm And CEO Indicted In Alleged Scheme That Inflated Real Estate Value

Thanks to Patrick Egger for this story tip!

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