Vic Jannels, chairman of All Types of Mortgages (AToM), said that the developments were a 'poor reflection' on the industry as a whole, alongside the existing methods in place to identify fraud.
He said that all mortgage professionals 'interested in securing a mortgage industry that applies best practice' should take action and call on the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and all industry practitioners to give the police their full support to 'drive out the criminals.'
"Bringing criminals to justice can only be in the long-term interests of mortgage professionals," he argued.
"Rather than debate the scale of the problem, should we not accept that any fraud is unacceptable and concede that the police having to step in simply serves to highlight failures?"
Jannels also called for 'meaningful' punishments to be dished out to those found guilty of such criminal activity.
However Gary Booth, director of Tiuta, placed the blame firmly upon lenders.
He said: "Lender complacency regarding potential fraud has contributed to where we are today - what surprises me is the apathy or naivety with which some lenders approach fraud when it can impact so negatively on their business.
"Whilst looking out for fraud is part of every lender’s training manual, much more scrutiny needs to be given to applications that simply don’t add up. That means investing in better education for staff to ensure that fraudsters don’t slip through the net and more thorough checks."
At the beginning of March, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) released a report confirming that mortgage fraud is a serious issue, currently accounting for a significant portion of the UK’s annual fraud losses at around £700 million.
Vic Jannels
Chairman
All Types of Mortgages (AToM)
