Online financial news

California and Florida led the nation in incidents of suspected mortgage fraud last year, with Los Angeles and Miami heading the list of metropolitan areas with the most reported incidents. 

The two states accounted for 42 percent of all subjects identified in mortgage fraud suspicious activity reports in 2009, according to new figures released this week, with roughly half of each state’s total coming from the two cities.   Overall, reports of possible mortgage fraud were up 4 percent in 2009, according to the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Reporting Network, which released its 2009 Mortgage Loan Fraud Study on Friday.     Reported cases of “mortgage fraud suspicious activities,” as the report describe them, have risen sharply in recent years. From 26,000 reported cases in 2005, the number more than doubled to 65,000 cases in 2008. The 4 percent increase in 2009 marks a slackening of that rise, to 67,500 cases, although the report notes the pace began quickening in the last quarter of the year.   Californi Read more…

Why are we always warned about credit fraud and identity theft? Well there is a sound reason behind such warning.

In the recent years, we have seen the alarming increase of incidents and reports of people who became victims of credit fraud and identity theft. A lot of consumer lost not only their identities but also their credibility as borrowers. After all, scam artists and unscrupulous credit organizations manipulated their credit profiles and inflicted severe damage to their credit history.

So, how can we protect ourselves from the cunning and fraudulent schemes of scam artists? Let us identify some practical ways that we can use to avoid succumbing to credit fraud and identity theft

Practical Ways to Avoid Credit Fraud

1. Constantly monitor your credit report. The best way to avoid getting ripped off by the cunning and illegal activities of scam artists is to regularly check your credit file. Is this a difficult thing to do? Of course not!

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We have often heard about bankruptcy fraud – a term often used by legal bodies. Any type of fraud is considered, in the USA, as a Federal crime. Bankruptcy is basically a legal way whereby a person or company is exempt from paying any of his/her/their debts due to a lack of finances. When a person tries to project such an image falsely, just to escape paying debts, this is considered as bankruptcy fraud and is punishable under the Law.

Some of the matters that amount to bankruptcy fraud are:

Concealing valuables/ property/ anything of value that can be used to facilitate the payment of the outstanding dues
Knowingly concealing information about secret dealing and contracts that provide “on-the-side” (un-declared) income
Transferring/ buying property in the name of your spouse, just so it will not be absorbed into the bankruptcy listing as assets

The numbers are quite staggering: credit card fraud flew to the number-one spot in 2009 in terms of identity theft. In particular, credit card fraud accounted for nearly 75 percent of all identity theft cases last year.

This jump in credit card fraud represents an amazing 63 percent increase from 2008. In addition, the number of identity theft victims rose 12 percent to 11.1 million.

Other numbers reported by Javelin’s annual identity theft fraud report include:

• Total losses from identity theft rose 12 percent to $54 billion in 2009, up from $48 billion in 2008.
• Theft amounts, per victim, were approximately $4,481 in 2009.
• Debit card fraud dropped to 33 percent of all identity theft, down from 35 percent in 2008.

It’s no surprise that identity theft is steadily increasing, given the amount of time that individuals spend on the Internet, notebooks and PDAs.

So, what can you do to ensure that you’re not the next victim of credit card fraud?

• Use one credit card exclusively for online shopping. This

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