Mortgage Fraud Hits £20bn a Year in UK
March 27th, 2008 by 
Guy
Fraud in UK hits £20bn a year, the police stated, and they plan to expand their efforts to tackle the problem.
The City of London Police are currently recruiting for a national fraud crime enforcement team, claiming that the impact of mortgage fraud is second only to drug dealing.
The decision comes after a report by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) put UK mortgage fraud losses at over £700m a year, and growing daily.
But the Council of Mortgage Lenders has disputed the police findings.
The Costs of Mortgage Fraud
The £20bn amount is based on the estimated figure to the UK of stolen assets, lost revenues, and the costs of prevention, policing and investigating the crime.
The new police enforecement team will be based around the London force’s existing team who have expertise in tackling economic crime.
The teams role will include training public, assisting in investigations up and down the country and drawing up crime prevention advice to the general product.
The police review of mortgage fraud said the high profits and relatively low risk was attracting organised gangs of criminals.
They called for a specialist mortgage fraud department to tackle the increasing number of false valuations and deceitful mortgage applications used by fraudsters.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders stated that there is very little information to show the extent of mortgage fraud in the UK.
They said the police estimate was likely to have featured some double-counting and thought the amount would be much lower.
They did however welcome the promise of new guidlines and guidance for forces around the UK on how to identify and deal with mortgage fraud.
Posted in Mortgage news | 