Mortgage Fraud Risk Is on the Rise in These 6 Cities

On a national scale, the risk for loan application defects that can lead to mortgage fraud are down. But in a number of local markets, the risk of inconsistent data, including Social Security numbers that can't be verified or income that can't be validated, are contributing to a rise in fraud risk from a year ago.

The data is based on the September readings of a First American loan defect index, which ranges from 53 to 114 and ranks the top 50 population centers in the country.