The Florida Attorney General's Office is calling it a major factor in the meltdown of the economy, mortgage fraud.

Investigators say real estate scams like one we uncovered in Marion County have been going on for years.

It starts out when the con artist offers someone money in exchange for the use of their name and identity, that person becomes what is known as a straw buyer.

The scammer then purchases a house using the straw buyer's identity from a seller who is most likely in on the scam, for an inflated price.

Let's say the house is worth one hundred thousand dollars, the con artist will offer the seller two hundred thousand, and will get that amount from the lender.

The con artist then keeps the difference, the mortgage never gets paid, and the straw buyer is stuck with the foreclosure.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says,  "With the downturn in the housing bubble when it burst...we see a lot of fraud as a result of that."

The fraud is well orchestrated and requires several participants, all who investigators believe receive a monetary kickback.