The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently became aware of a number of instances of appraiser identity theft. The fraudulent schemes varied, but stemmed from someone using the state certification number of a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) roster appraiser. In many cases, the harm was made possible when an FHA roster appraiser provided his or her personal identification number (PIN) for the desktop appraisal software to a colleague or supervisor. The FHA roster appraiser was unaware of the misuse until it came to light, usually by accident. The OIG has released a Fraud Alert that outlines the specific cases and provides a list of Do's and Don'ts for preventing and handling instances of appraiser identity theft.
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