NEW YORK, NY March 25, 2008 —Proposed budget cuts will handicap the fight against mortgage fraud - that's according to the city's district attorneys.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says in just the last few years, real estate and mortgage fraud cases have tripled. And that, he says, is just the tip of the iceberg.

BROWN: A lot of the real estate and mortgage fraud we see these days is involved with the exploitation of the elderly. It is the elderly that so often hit with these kinds of situations.

REPORTER: City Councilman Peter Vallone, Public Safety Chair, says his research suggests that 1 in 5 foreclosures involve some aspect of fraud.

Nationally, the FBI has more than 1,200 open such investigations, up 40 percent from last year. The FBI ranks New York as one of the country's top 10 hot spot for mortgage fraud.

For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.