Regulators Seek Lender Input on Fraud.

CHICAGO -- It isn't rap. It's not rock. Perhaps it's the blues.

Whatever the tune, John Robbins says he's hearing something new from law enforcement officials these days. "I'm hearing a different tune," the chairman-elect of the Mortgage Bankers Association said at the group's National Fraud Issues Conference here earlier this month.

It used to be that when lenders asked the cops to investigate and prosecute instances of fraud, "they were pushed away" because the authorities "didn't have the resources," said Mr. Robbins, who is chief executive officer of the American Mortgage Network, San Diego. "So we developed a habit of dealing with fraud internally."

Now, though, law enforcement agencies "are asking you to come forward," he told the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that numbered close to 200 and could have been nearly twice as large had the Palmer House Hotel had enough meeting space to accommodate them.

Keynote speaker Thurbert Baker, Georgia's attorney general, wants lenders in his state to step up. Ditto for the Department of Justice, which is working to build a data base so it can identify trends and try to stay at least one step behind the bad guys as opposed to three or four.

"Our ability to fight has not kept pace with the innovative schemes" being used to victimize not just lending institutions but also buyers, sellers and entire neighborhoods, Mr. Baker told the meeting.

"The bottom line is, businesses are being robbed - in some cases, robbed blind. And if left unchecked, mortgage fraud can undermine real estate values in entire communities," he said.