Legal/property markets – Rise in fraud cases

City of London Police reported that the number of reported frauds rose by 64% last year.

They advocate changing its name from the gentlemanly “white collar crime” to “organised crime”. They highlight mortgage fraud in the property market caused by deliberate over valuing of new developments requiring conspiracies of lawyers, estate agents and developers working together.

The City of London Police has appointed 50 new fraud specialists who, within a year, have started to investigate £1 billion of new frauds and gathered intelligence on further cases with potential losses of £500m. They want to create a National Fraud Intelligence Bureau where police, banks and insurance companies work together.

The value of reported frauds was £14 billion in 2005 and academics said with unreported frauds the figure was likely to be closer to £20 billion.