Mortgage fraud attempts in the UK grew 14 percent to 32 in every 10,000 applications last year, according to research conducted by Experian, which also revealed that first-party fraudsters were responsible for 97 percent of the reported cases.
The credit rating agency said that typical fraud attempts involved individuals inflating the status of their employment and personal finances, or not disclosing former addresses or adverse credit histories.
“Fraud in the UK has been fuelled by the recession’s aftermath, and it is likely that financial services providers could see fraud attempts rise during 2011,” said Nick Mothershaw, Director of Identity and Fraud at Experian.
He added that organisations must ensure they have the proper defences in place to permit rigorous verification and validation of information and identities.
In March, research by UK’s fraud prevention service CIFAS, showed that 69 percent of all mortgage fraud was made by brokers.
“The threat of mortgage fraud has not gone away, and it must be viewed in its proper context as the latest in a series of changes that have taken place over several years,” said Richard Hurley, Communications Manager at CIFAS.