California tops a list of states for mortgage fraud activity, as the state's courts pursue more cases against alleged frausters, ""MortgageDaily.com"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageFraud.asp found in an index it released Wednesday.
[IMAGE]The Web site documented activity in FraudBlogger.com, a mortgage fraud blog.
While California claimed the top spot, New York and Florida also found themselves perched considerably high on the index, followed shortly by South Carolina and Minnesota.
[COLUMN_BREAK]Figures for mortgage fraud increased quarter-over-quarter, accelerating from $1,587,573,586 to $1,333,189,232 but fell year-over-year from $1,850,531,120, according to the Web site.
""The Mortgage Fraud Index reflects current efforts by law enforcement officials to prosecute defendants who typically committed mortgage fraud three to five years ago,"" Sam Garcia, _Mortgage Daily_ founder and publisher, said in a statement.
""Many of the recently opened cases were uncovered by mortgage bankers who were forced to repurchase the loans,"" he added.
California saw fraudsters leech funds away from its lenders, with dollar volume accelerating to $204,273,490, according to the Web site.
New York ranked second by dollar volume in mortgage fraud at $199,600,000, followed by Florida with $144,320,669 and a ranking as the worst state for fraud on the index.
South Carolina and Minnesota saw fraud for the two states fall last, with dollar volume for the former cresting at $108,978,654 and $76,400,000 for the latter.