AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – Nov. 27, 2012 – Interthinx, a provider of comprehensive risk mitigation solutions, released its quarterly Mortgage Fraud Risk Report covering data collected in the third quarter of 2012.

According to an Interthinx analysis, overall risk nationwide decreased nearly 8 percent to its lowest value in the past two years. However, significantly increased levels of fraud risk in Florida pushed it past Nevada into the top spot for overall fraud risk.

Interthinx breaks its analysis down into four types of fraud, and Florida appears at or near the top for three – including the index that measures mortgage fraud. “Of particular concern is the finding that, in Florida, investment purchases have more than three times the level of employment/income fraud risk than purchases for primary residences,” Interthinx says in its report.

Other findings:

• Florida and Nevada are the two riskiest states with Interthinx Mortgage Fraud Risk Index values of 206 and 205, respectively. Currently, Florida has 17 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) classified as “very high risk.”

• Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach appears on all of the type-specific top 10 riskiest lists except employment/income.

“The report shows that even when overall fraud risk is decreasing nationwide, there are still areas of concern, as we see with this quarter’s findings in Florida,” says Mike Zwerner, senior vice president of Interthinx.

The full report is available on the Interthinx website.

© 2012 Florida Realtors®