Have you ever wanted to be a super hero? Those of us in mortgage lending may feel far from that namesake sitting behind the desk spread with flat screens and a phone plastered to our ears. It seems like we're more like Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne than Superman or Batman. Or are we?

You may have read the stats most recently about mortgage application defects reaching their highest level since 2015. The truth is mortgage fraud crime is widespread across the U.S. and continues to climb. A 2016 report shows the increase is relatively minor from 2015 to 2016 at 0.7%, according to the CoreLogic 2016 Mortgage Fraud Report. However small this increase may appear, the reality is that it's building upon a multi-billion dollar criminal activity already causing havoc on our country and it's scary to think it's continuing to grow.

Here's what the CoreLogic 2016 Mortgage Fraud Report reveals as fraud on the rise across the country and the states that are taking the hardest hits: