L.A. epicenter of fraud

As more Americans lost their homes to foreclosure last month than at any time in history, Los Angeles County has become the "national epicenter of mortgage fraud," federal officials said Thursday.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The Los Angeles area now ranks No. 1 in the nation in the number of mortgage fraud reports made since 2008, officials said during Los Angeles Mortgage Fraud Summit.

Tony West, assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., said 1.7 million American homeowners received foreclosure notices in the first half of this year and the number of properties banks have taken back hit an all-time high last month.