Inman

New software aims to sniff out real estate closing fraud

An Internet-based software system that aims to address the growing problem of mortgage fraud debuted this week.

Mountain Lakes, N.J.-based Ciercus Systems’ new product combines mortgage closing data collection and warehousing with closing agent registration and real-time access to executed closing documents.

Earlier this month, the company announced a certification program for closing agents through its subsidiary, Professional Assurance, and dozens of real estate professionals have registered with the system to obtain certification status, the company said.

Ciercus executives are in discussions with a major industry fraud fighting company to partner together to enhance the reach of the Ciercus System in the marketplace, according to an announcement.

Communities nationwide lost an estimated $1 billion to residential real estate loan fraud in 2005, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That was up from $429 million in 2004. Experts in the field advocate a combination of employee training and technology as the optimal way to fight mortgage fraud.