Mortgage-related fraud increased by 32.8% in the past year, new market analysis by bridging finance specialists, Apex Bridging, has revealed.
Apex Bridging analysed fraud and computer misuse offences in England and Wales recorded by Action Fraud or referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) between April 2022 and March 2023, and looked at how these numbers compare to the 12 months previous.
There was an overall total of 1.1 million cases of fraud between April 2022 and March 2023, 15.3% higher than the previous 12 months.
Mortgage fraud is a common type of property fraud in which criminals seek to steal money from a financial institution or private lender through the mortgage process.
In the past year, mortgage fraud in England and Wales increased by 32.8%, the second highest increase of all banking and credit industry fraud.
However, the total number of identified cases (1,723) made this it the second rarest form of banking and credit industry fraud, accounting for just 0.2% of total cases within this sector.
Another common form of property fraud is rental fraud, in which would-be tenants are tricked into paying an unnecessary upfront fee to rent a property.
Rental fraud saw a smaller annual increase (5.1%) to mortgage fraud, but remained far more prominent, with 5,098 reported cases across the year.
This figure also made it the third most frequent form of advance fee payment fraud, accounting for 11.2% of all cases.
People were most vulnerable to property fraud if they were landlords, lived overseas, kept their property empty, had unmortgaged property, or did not have their property registered on HM Land Registry (HMLR).
Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of Apex Bridging, said: “There is so much money involved with property that it’s difficult for career-criminals and chances alike to resist.
“Whether they’re stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds through mortgage fraud, or a few hundred quid through rental fraud, it’s rife and cases are on the rise.
“Property owners and professionals alike need to do all they can to mitigate the risk of property fraud.
“That means dealing only with respected and trustworthy organisations and service providers, and being awake to any red flags.
He concluded: “Criminals often succeed because honest people lack caution and due diligence. Here at Apex Bridging we undertake vigorous ID checks to protect our business and our borrowers but everyone needs to play their part to make it as hard as humanly possible for these crooks to succeed.”
