When there's this kind of temptation to make quick money, greed can't be far behind.

Insiders call it land flipping. Silent second. Straw buyers. Foreclosure fraud. Equity skimming. Air loans. If there's a thought to do it, there's a scheme attached to it.

"It's the fastest-growing white collar crime in the country," says California attorney Rachel Dollar, whose Web site, www.mortgagefraudblog.com, helps lenders across the country learn about who's doing what to whom. "There's 101,000 schemes. They come up with new ones all the time."

Some of these schemes come from get rich quick seminars. Some are from 'a friend of a friend.' Shady operators in the real estate business get tempted, either driven by greed or debt. A general slowdown in the business can have all kinds of effects.

Selling homes at inflated prices and giving cash back to the buyers so they could pocket the profits is one of the latest schemes to hit our local market. And when some desperate seller hears of it, temptation arises. But think about it. Money doesn't come in off the street. It comes from somewhere, and that someone is the lender who loans the money. So the seller leaves, and the buyer never makes a dimes worth of payment to the lender, and the house goes back to the bank. This scheme is lender fraud, and it is illegal. In fact, there are various federal offences involved which will land all parties in prison, including buyer, seller, appraiser, Realtor, and anyone else involved in the fraud.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And its incidence is increasing in our local market area.

Click HERE for a Wall Street Journal Online article on a mortgage fraud scheme that has devastated an entire town.