The true scale of mortgage fraud in the UK may be far greater than official enforcement figures suggest, according to data gathered by the client due diligence platform Thirdfort.
A Freedom of Information request made by Thirdfort to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed there have been only 17 enforcement investigations into mortgage fraud since 2018.
According to the data, the number of investigations peaked in 2019, with five cases. Between 2022 and 2024 there were an average of two or three cases annually,and no cases recorded in 2020 or 2021 – ‘possibly linked to pandemic-related disruption in financial crime detection and enforcement’, Thirdfort suggests.
However, Thirdfort co-founder and CEO Olly Thornton-Berry says the broader industry data paints a different picture and suggests mortgage fraud remains both widespread and significantly under-reported.
Thornton-Berry commented:
“In the UK, in addition to the FCA, the Serious Fraud Office, local police forces, and the National Crime Agency 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.”
Industry stats point to a growing threat, according to figures gathered by Thirdfoot, which reveals a 32.8% spike in mortgage fraud cases between 2022 and 2023; one in six UK adults admit to or know someone who has misled a lender to secure a mortgage; £1.17 billion lost to fraud in 2023, with mortgage fraud a growing contributor; and use of AI-generated fake documents and identity fraud.
Thornton-Berry founded Thirdfort with Jack Bidgood after a friend lost £25,000 to fraud while buying a flat, despite undergoing anti-fraud checks with multiple professions. The pair say they were compelled to act after ‘witnessing first hand the devastating impact of fraud’ even after multiple paper-based checks had been conducted.
They added:
“Mortgage fraud often involves forged documentation, fake identities, or income misrepresentation to deceive lenders, placing legal and property professionals at serious risk.”
