I saw something over the weekend that I figured was worth mentioning. Interthinx, a popular provider of mortgage fraud prevention tools, has granted two University of Georgia professors a total of $10,000 to conduct research that could results in real estate professional being able to better identify which neighborhoods may be at risk from real estate scams and fraudsters.

According to the Athens Banner-Herald, Dr. Douglas Bachtel, Professor of Housing and Consumer Economics, and Dr. Andrew Carswell, Assistant Professor of Housing and Consumer Economics, say they’re interested in speaking with convicted real estate fraudsters about how they masterminded mortgage fraud scams. Bachtel and Carswell, both of whom teach in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Science, also plan on reviewing Census Bureau demographics and plotting maps that they say will ultimately result in a computer model that might make it possible for real estate industry professionals to stop mortgage fraud before it happens, or at least have a better idea of which areas are more susceptible than others.

The $10,000 grant is one of many things Interthinx is doing to assist in the fight against real estate fraud and the scammers and fraudsters who commit these crimes. Earlier this year, the California-based company teamed up with real estate industry professionals to develop a fraud prevention training video that it says will help the industry thwart the expansion of mortgage fraud schemes on a national level. When made available for general distribution in September of this year, the training video–titled FSI: Fraud Scheme Investigation–will reflect a storyline and style similar to television’s popular CSI series, which the company says will demonstrate the characteristics and red flags of a complicated property flipping scheme.

Interthinx also sponsors our good friend Rachel Dollar’s Mortgage Fraud Blog, and has stepped up to the plate to sponsor a number of leading industry conferences, seminars, and training opportunities.