Catching construction fraud: 3 real cases solved by satellite imagery

Case 1 — Phantom foundation. A borrower in Texas submitted draw documents claiming a $2.1M slab pour. Satellite imagery from the same week showed bare dirt. The lender paused the draw and recovered the funds.

Case 2 — Recycled photos. A multifamily developer reused progress photos from a sister property to support a draw on a stalled project. Time-stamped satellite captures proved the second site had not changed in 11 weeks.

Case 3 — Equipment theater. Heavy equipment was rented and parked on-site only on inspection days. Daily satellite monitoring revealed the machines vanished within 48 hours of every scheduled visit.

These aren't edge cases. Construction fraud costs the U.S. lending industry an estimated $5–10B annually. Objective remote sensing makes most of these schemes mathematically impossible.