Mortgage fraud decreases as current account fraud rises
By Tom WrightMortgage fraud decreased in the second quarter of this year but there has been a surge in fraudulent current account applications…
Mortgage fraud decreased in the second quarter of this year but there has been a surge in fraudulent current account applications.
Figures from Experian showed that the fraud rate has dropped from 83 in 10,000 in Q1 to 70 in 10,000 in Q2.
This is the first time that the rate has been below 80 since 2013.
However current accounts saw the fraudulent applications rate nearly double from 81 in 10,000 applications to 151.
69% of all current account fraud was identity theft, rising from 49% in Q1.
Nick Mothershaw, UK&I Director of Identity & Fraud at Experian, said: “We’ve seen current accounts slowly become the main target for criminals over the past year, but this sudden surge in fraud is alarming and indicative of a widespread organised attack on financial service providers.”
“The good news is that these figures relate to detected and prevented fraud so these large scale attacks are being blocked before the damage is done.
“However, it does reveal the fervour with which fraudsters are targeting current accounts and the dangers for both the individuals whose identities are stolen and the organisations trying to protect them.”
Keywords: fraud, mortgage fraud, experian, current account application, nick mothershaw, UK&1, identity fraud, bridging and commercial, B&C, medianett