U.S. mortgage fraud reports jumped 36 percent last year. California and Florida, ground zero in housing bust, had the highest numbers of suspicious reports. Fraudsters recycle old schemes, including property flipping, builder-bailouts, short sales and foreclosure rescues. The western region of the United States had the most pending FBI mortgage fraud-related investigations in 2008. The top 10 mortgage fraud states for 2008 were California, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, Florida, Missouri, and New York.”]
Source: https://www.cuinfosecurity.com/blogs/mortgage-fraud-dirty-little-secrets-p-240