Mortgage fraud incidents jumped 26% last year, with more than half of all reported cases stemming from misrepresentation of a borrowers' information on applications, according to data released Monday by the Mortgage Asset Research Institution.
The antifraud software vendor, a unit of Reed Elsevier Group PLC's LexisNexis Corp., said new types of fraud are emerging, despite a decrease in loan originations.
Rhode Island had the highest fraud rate per capita, the vendor said, followed by Florida, Illinois, Georgia and Maryland.
Roughly 61% of all mortgage fraud was attributed to misrepresentation on loan applications, including incorrect names or assets. False tax returns and financial statements accounted for 28% of fraud incidents, the report said.
