In the past I have talked about the growing threat of mortgage fraud here and here.

Now we have the FBI warning that mortgage fraud is rising, up 31 per cent to 46,717 reports. An extraordinary number when you compare it to the 6936 reported in 2003. Subprime loans are a big contributing factor.

This is going to get a lot worse. With warnings that the US housing market might not rebound until next year, there will be plenty of scope for scam artists to fleece the vulnerable.