California, Nevada and Florida Remain Hotbeds for Mortgage Fraud

``Nineteen percent of Q1 MLF SARs report activity that occurred within the past two years. Of this more recent activity, there were sharp increases in debt elimination schemes (14 percent of this reporting in Q1 2012 versus nine percent in 2011) and other foreclosure rescue scams (eight percent of these Q1 filings versus less than two percent in 2011). Financial institutions filed 17,651 MLF SARs in the first quarter of 2012 down from 25,485 filed in the same quarter of 2011. Previous record levels were attributable to mortgage loan repurchase demands prompting reviews of dated mortgages. This trend continues, though diminished, as 72 percent of Q1 filings still report suspicious activity that occurred more than four years ago.''