Mortgage fraud going largely undetected

The true scale of mortgage fraud in the UK may be far greater than official enforcement figures suggest, client due diligence platform Thirdfort has warned.

Mortgage fraud often involves forged documentation, fake identities, or income misrepresentation to deceive lenders, placing legal and property professionals at serious risk.

A Freedom of Information request made by Thirdfort to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed that there have been only 17 enforcement investigations into mortgage fraud since 2018.

According to the data, the number of investigations peaked in 2019 (5 cases), with activity continuing across 2022–2024 (averaging 3-4 cases annually). The data also shows two dormant years (2020–2021), possibly linked to pandemic-related disruption in financial crime detection and enforcement.

However, broader industry data paints a different picture, suggesting that mortgage fraud remains both widespread and significantly under-reported.

Apex Bridging research shows there was a 32.8% spike in mortgage fraud cases between 2022 and 2023.

Olly Thornton-Berry, co-founder and chief executive of Thirdfort, said: “These figures suggest that the number of mortgage fraud investigations is relatively low, but of course that’s not the full picture.

“In the UK, in addition to the FCA, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), local police forces, and the National Crime Agency (NCA) all play a role in investigating cases involving suspected mortgage fraud.

“Moreover, with fraudsters becoming more sophisticated, and industry data telling a different story, it’s likely that there’s a significant amount of fraudulent activity going undetected.”