Soaring rates give rise to ruthless mortgage scams: Action Fraud rings alarm bells

Criminals are using mortgage offers “as low as 2.39%” to lure people into phishing scams.

Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, has issued an urgent alert about a rise in mortgage scams.

⚠️Criminals are using mortgage offers “as low as 2.39%” to lure people into phishing scams. The messages claim to offer limited time deals to low rates, but the links lead to fake websites.

Forward suspicious emails to [email protected]

It will help us beat the scammers. pic.twitter.com/thgy6ndBkx

— HGC Troseddau Seiber / NWP Cyber Crime (@NWPCyberCrime) June 27, 2023

The warning comes at a time when the nation is grappling with soaring mortgage rates, leaving homebuyers and those looking to remortgage in a vulnerable position.

In just two weeks, Action Fraud has received 538 reports of fraudulent emails purporting to be from mortgage lenders.

Providing some visual examples, Action Fraud illustrates the breadth of these mortgage scams currently sweeping the nation.

These scam emails are known to lure unsuspecting recipients with low-rate mortgages on time-limited deals.

The technique is a widely used ploy by scammers to expedite decision making and reduce the time victims may have to detect the scam.

The concerning part of these scams is their sophisticated nature.

Emails often contain links promising to check eligibility or provide a personalised rate.

However, the links, instead of being helpful, lead to a fake website, engineered specifically to steal bank details of the innocent victims who are lured into clicking.

If you receive an unexpected email offering a too-good-to-be-true mortgage deal, the chances are it’s a scam.

Bogus emails should be reported to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service by forwarding them to [email protected].

Any scam websites encountered should be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre