Malone spoke out at the Mortgage Business Expo today after it was reported this morning that credit card fraud was on the increase.
He said: “Fraudsters will always find another way. Just as we manage to combat fraud in our market they turn to another.”
Despite lenders reporting that fraud had dropped, the cost of mortgage fraud still stands at £1bn.
Malone said the industry needs to remain vigilant and the national fraud forum is doing all it can to help combat the issue.
He said: “Lenders are being told to know your broker but brokers also need to be reporting poor lender behaviour where they have concerns over quality and practices.”
Awareness, prevention and enforcement are the main areas which need to be focussed on said Malone.
And an initiative due to be implemented is the soon to be Financial Conduct Authority’s involvement in Action Fraud, a national crime agency targeting areas such as organised crime and economic crime.
“Fraudsters are very clever people,” Malone added. “We all need to work together to chase them out of our industry.”
