FBI Warns of Rising Mortgage Fraud

The FBI, which is currently involved in over 1300 active investigations into mortgage 'irregularities' reported on Tuesday that as a result of the sinking housing market, they expect to witness a sharp rise in the number of 'suspicious' mortgage activity reported.

According to the 2007 Mortgage Fraud Report, suspected mortgage fraud rose 31% to 46,717 from 35,617 in the previous fiscal year ending October 31. In the first half of fiscal 2008, there were more than 33,000 such reports.

That number "is just the tip of the iceberg, reflecting only a small percentage of financial damage suffered by victims of mortgage fraud," sais Kenneth Kaiser, the FBI's assistant director in charge of the bureau's criminal investigations division, in a statement.

According to the report, the top 10 hotspots nationwide for mortgage fraud in 2007, carefully mapped from multiple public and private sources, were: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, California, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New York, Colorado, and Minnesota. The north-central region had the largest share of mortgage fraud, followed by the west and southeast regions.