I truly wish I could prove you wrong, but it only takes a couple of idiots to spoil it for the rest of us; and right now the appraisal business has a lot more than a couple idiots.
If it’s any consolation, appraisers are regulated and those appraisers who have cooperated and enabled this fraud are subject to all kinds of civil, administrative and criminal penalties. Up to and including prison. Unlike with stock scams and the like – which require insider information that isn’t readily available – proving appraiser misconduct is relatively simple, if a little labor intensive. These folks can all be brought to account if the government or the investors have the interest to pursue them.
