LEVELS of fraud across the property sector remain “alarmingly high” a leading association has warned.

The National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) say criminals are continuing to “prey” on the cost of living crisis.
And they’ve warned the shortage of property is creating a panic among buyers and renters which further attracts scammers.

The warning comes amid new figures showing rates of fraud are sky-rocketing.

Data released by Apex Bridging shows how, in the past year in England and Wales, mortgage fraud has increased by 32.8%.
This kind of fraud occurs when criminals seek to steal money from a financial institution or private provider through the lending process. It is now the second-highest increase of all banking and credit industry fraud.
Rental fraud – where would-be tenants are tricked into paying an upfront fee to rent a phantom property – is up too
It’s risen by 5.1% in the last year and is now the third-most frequent form of advance fee payment fraud, accounting for 11.2% of all cases.
Jonathan Rolande, from the National Association of Property Buyers, said the figures were deeply concerning but added he felt many probably weren’t even coming forward.
He said: “Mortgage fraud, both failed and successful attempts have increased dramatically. Whilst it forms a small percentage of total cases, because of the very large amounts of money involved, it is still a worrying statistic.

“We have been warning of an increase in fraud for some time, recently partnering with Gumtree to alert those seeking property, especially rental, about the numerous risks they face and how to try to counter them.

“But, unfortunately, we are seeing increased figures. This is down to a combination of desperation from tenants who are struggling to find accommodation due to a shortage of available homes. Plus, more of our lives are online and personal relationships with agents and landlords are decreasing. I’m not surprised by the increase. But what makes it worse is that many cases are bound to go unreported as victims doubt there is any chance of recovery or conviction and others are embarrassed to fall victim. The real figures are bound to be even higher. Banks have put in good systems to alert customers sending money to possible fraudsters and names of accounts are routinely checked to ensure they match the account number and sort code. This must prevent many less complex fraud attempts, but consumers are still very much at risk, especially when a fraudster obtains personal details from them, as is standard in a rental application.”