Mortgage Fraud Index Hits Five-Year Low

The holidays took a toll on mortgage fraud prosecutions as the Q4-2012 Mortgage Fraud Index sank to its lowest level in nearly five years. However, the drop appears to have only been temporary. California saw a big improvement, while the dollar volume in Florida spiked. Mortgage Daily tracked activity on 105 mortgage fraud cases for $1.3 billion during the fourth quarter. The actions are chronicled at the mortgage fraud blog FraudBlogger.com and represent activity on mostly criminal cases filed in local, state and federal courts. It was the fewest number of cases tracked since at least 2007, while the dollar amount hasn't been this low since the first-quarter 2011. Activity fell from 141 cases for $1.7 billion three months earlier and 171 cases for $1.8 billion a year earlier.