In today’s digital mortgage market, trust is everything. Yet, with fraud becoming more advanced and prevalent, maintaining that trust is more complex than ever. For consumers, quite rightly, concerns about how their personal data is used are growing rapidly. Meanwhile, for advisers, protecting that data while maintaining efficiency, compliance and customer experience is critical.
According to Veriff’s UK Fraud Industry Pulse Survey, 73% of UK businesses reported an increase in online fraud in the last year. The same number also acknowledged that fraud has negatively affected their revenue, often significantly.
Nearly two-thirds of businesses lost up to 9% of annual revenue to fraud, while 9% suffered even greater financial hits. Perhaps even more alarming is that for many businesses, over a quarter of all monthly ID verification attempts are fraudulent.
Mortgage fraud, in particular, continues to fly under the radar. A Freedom of Information request submitted by Thirdfort revealed only 17 mortgage fraud enforcement investigations by the FCA since 2018. According to the data, the number of investigations peaked in 2019 (5 cases), with activity continuing across 2022–2024 (averaging 3-4 cases annually). The data also shows two dormant years (2020–2021), possibly linked to pandemic-related disruption in financial crime detection and enforcement.
So, does this mean that mortgage fraud is on the wane? Does the scale of the problem exceed what official figures suggest? Or are firms becoming better protected?
It's difficult to say for sure. What we do know is that fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated, so it’s entirely possible that a significant volume of fraudulent activity continues to go undetected. That’s why it’s crucial for firms across the mortgage industry to arm themselves with the right tools and technologies to address this growing threat.
Fortunately, the intermediary market now has access to an expanding arsenal of fraud prevention solutions, from facial recognition and biometric ID verification to AI-powered solutions and encrypted payment platforms. But the real game changer lies in integrating these tools directly into a CRM system.
By embedding fraud detection technology at the heart of the mortgage journey, advisers can identify risk faster, process applications more efficiently, and reassure clients that their personal data is secure. Rather than jumping between platforms or duplicating work, everything happens within a unified, compliant, and secure environment.
Facial recognition software, for example, now plays a significant role in verifying client identity. This replaces slow, error-prone manual checks with secure, seamless digital alternatives. This technology, when integrated into a CRM, enables advisers to validate IDs quickly, eliminating friction and reducing the risk of impersonation fraud or forged documents.
AI is also changing the fraud prevention landscape. Increasingly used across financial services, AI can analyse documents like bank statements and payslips in seconds, flag anomalies, and assess risk far more quickly than traditional methods. Capabilities which aren’t just about security, but also in unlocking capacity.
Flexible payment systems further reinforce this security-first strategy. These platforms, once integrated, allow secure transactions with features such as real-time reporting, encryption, and fraud detection. In addition to improving operational efficiency, they ensure that sensitive financial data is protected and that transactions remain compliant, something increasingly vital in an environment of rising fraud risk.
As fraud continues to evolve, intermediary firms need to respond with agility, intelligence, and confidence. Integrating facial recognition, AI, and flexible payment solutions into a powerful CRM platform is not just the best defence, it’s also the foundation for smarter business growth.
With everything connected, secure, and automated, advisers can deliver faster decisions, stronger compliance, and a more trusted client experience. In a market where confidence is currency, that’s the real competitive edge.
