According to federal officials Los Angeles County has become the main "epicenter" of mortgage fraud and ranks No. 1 in the nation in the number of mortgage fraud reports made since 2008.
In the first half of this year 1.7 million American homeowners received foreclosure notices and the amount of properties that banks have taken back hit an all-time high last month according to Tony West, assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
According to West, "The situation in California has been particularly dire and by any measure California is among the two or three states most affected by mortgage fraud."
Banks in California filed nearly 350,000 foreclosure notices from January to early August, while in Los Angeles County alone more than 400,000 homeowners have negative equity.
"That is the third-highest rate in the entire country and those seeking to take advantage of these hard economic times are striking the community," he continued.
Members of the National Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force met at the U.S. Attorney's Office in downtown Los Angeles.
Andre Birotte Jr., the U.S. attorney for California's Central District said that this summit "is particularly timely because our region is now a national epicenter of mortgage fraud. In the last month alone, my office has indicted two dozen defendants for their involvement in mortgage and real estate fraud, and has pursued civil remedies in other mortgage fraud cases."
Established by President Obama in November 2009 the National Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force was put together to investigate and prosecute financial crimes, including a variety of mortgage fraud schemes.