Mortgage-related fraud in England and Wales increased by 32.8% in the past year, analysis by bridging finance specialists Apex Bridging reveals.

Mortgage fraud is a type of property fraud in which criminals seek to steal money from a financial institution or private lender through the mortgage process.

The data shows that overall, there was a total of 1.1m cases of property fraud between April 2022 and March 2023 – 15.3% higher than the previous 12 months.

Property fraud refers to any kind of fraudulent activity that focuses on property assets or the professional processes of the property industry.

There are several common types of property fraud.

One example is identity theft and impersonation in which a criminal will steal a person’s identity, often using fake or stolen ID, and then use that false identity to sell, mortgage, or remortgage someone else’s property before running off with the large sums of cash they receive as a result.

Stolen identity can also result in the title deeds of a property being changed, essentially enabling a criminal to put the property in their own name or that of a co-conspirator.

Another common form of property fraud is rental fraud, in which would-be tenants are tricked into paying an upfront fee to rent a property that, often doesn’t exist.

In the past year, Apex’s figures show there has been a 5.1% increase in rental fraud, with 5,098 reported cases over the last 12 months.

Apex says people are most vulnerable to fraud if they are landlords, live overseas, keep property empty, have unmortgaged property, or don’t have it registered on His Majesty’s Land Registry (HMLR).

It adds that it is vital for owners to register title deeds with HMLR to protect themselves.

Apex Bridging managing director Chris Hodgkinson says: “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.

“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.”

Apex Bridging analysed the number of fraud and computer misuse offences in England & 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 compared to the previous 12 months.