Communities that are currently struggling from the effects of fraudulent mortgage transactions may still be suffering years from now, according to new research released by Interthinx.
In its quarterly Mortgage Fraud Risk Report, Interthinx notes that six of the ten riskiest MSAs in the nation were in the top ten a year ago, and all ten of the MSAs that were at the top of the list for fraud last year are still in the top 20 today.
Interthinx, with headquarters in Agoura Hills, Calif., reported that Nevada replaced Arizona as the state with the highest fraud risk, though both states have indices about 40 points greater than that of third-place California. The high indices in Nevada and Arizona are due mostly to the disproportionately high refinance risk in those states.
ZIP-code-level analysis showed that the majority of the ten riskiest ZIP codes are, not surprisingly, located within MSAs that are in the "very risky" category. However, two of the three riskiest ZIP codes are located in Chicago, which at the MSA-level has an index less than the national value.
The identity fraud risk index had a quarter-on-quarter increase of 10% for the second consecutive quarter, the only type-specific fraud index to display a strong increasing trend over the last three quarters.
The occupancy fraud risk index decreased by 9% from the previous quarter. It fell 11% between the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.
