A new report out today from the Federal Bureau of Investigation says the housing meltdown has spurred a spike in mortgage fraud, and lists Missouri and Illinois among fraud “hotspots.”

Reported incidents of potential fraud jumped 36 percent in 2008, according to the FBI, to 63,713. And are on pace for even more this year. Reported losses topped $1.4 billion, up 83 percent from last year, and are also on pace to grow in 2009.

Turmoil in the housing and credit markets both driving, and enabling, more fraud, the FBI said. And it warned that federal efforts to stabilize the housing market could “provide new targets” as fraudsters find new weak spots in hastily-assembled programs.

The FBI said it’s seeing an increase in particular types of fraud, including reverse-mortgage schemes, homebuilders defrauding banks for loan money and foreclosure rescue efforts that requre homeowners to pay large up front fees or deed away their property.

Both Illinois and Missouri ranked high on several studies of fraud reports last year, the FBI noted, with Illinois in the top five states in the country by several measures, and Missouri in the top 10.

Read the full report here.

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