Crackdown on '£20bn-a-year' fraud

Mortgage fraud was the subject of a recent Acpo report

Fraud is costing the UK £20bn a year, the police say, as they plan to expand their efforts to tackle it.

The City of London Police is recruiting for a national fraud crime force, claiming that the impact of the crime is second only to drug trafficking.

The move comes after a report by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) put UK mortgage fraud losses at £700m a year, and growing.

But the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has disputed the estimate.

Cost of fraud

The £20bn figure is based on the estimated cost to the UK of stolen assets, lost revenues, and the costs of prevention and investigation.

The new fraud team will be based around the London force's existing expertise in tackling economic crime.

Its role will include training public and private investigators, assisting in complex investigations around the country and drawing up crime prevention advice.

The Acpo review of mortgage fraud said the high profits and low risk was attracting organised criminals.

It called for a specialist mortgage fraud bureau to tackle the false valuations and bogus mortgage applications used by fraudsters.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders says there is very little reliable data available to estimate the extent of mortgage fraud.

It said the police estimate was likely to have featured some double-counting.

But they welcomed the promise of new guidance for police forces around the country on how to identify and investigate mortgage fraud.