Civil and criminal mortgage fraud case activity eased during November from October -although activity jumped from a year earlier, according to the FraudBlogger Index published.

The FraudBlogger Index was 800 last month, edging down from 810 in October. The index soared, however, from 530 during November 2006. The dollar volume of active mortgage fraud cases tracked last month was $0.4 billion, compared to $0.3 billion in October and $0.1 billion in November 2006. A minimum of $100,000 was used for all cases tracked, including when no amount was available. The national total index is an aggregate of all state data.

The biggest case tracked involved Minnesota homebuilder Parish Marketing and Development Corp. Owner Michael Parish and his wife plead guilty to using straw buyers on 200 new homes. There were approximately $50 million in losses.

In September, former U.S. Bank officer Ramiz Yousef Saadeh plead guilty to providing fake deposit verifications in the scam - which used proceeds from subsequent transactions to make payments on prior deals.