Mortgage brokers, mortgage agents, and mortgage lending

I read this article today on Tuscaloosa News and had to comment. The article says that neighborhoods boom were built on mortgage fraud. Seems as if in 2005, a small Indiana company bought 184 duplex homes in a down-and-out neighborhood for an average price of $50,000 each. Then less than a month later, another company comes along and begins selling the at $120,000 each to church secretaries, truckers, retirees and factory workers. Recently in 2004, homes in this neighborhood have sold in the range of $20,000 to $65,000. People have been taken advantage of in a major way. Do you believe the company was preying on the lack of knowledge and/or resources these people had? The fact that these people who bought these homes did not do any research is sad. I feel it is disgusting that they were taken advantage of.