FCPN Product: Mortgage Fraud - Risks and Red Flags

This resource provides an overview of mortgage fraud risks affecting New Zealand’s financial system and highlights common typologies observed across residential and small‑scale investment lending. It draws on collective intelligence to illustrate how organised and repeatable mortgage fraud activity can involve misrepresentation of income, employment, assets, liabilities, deposit sources, or property information, often across multiple institutions and with shared third‑party involvement.

The resource outlines practical red flags and detection opportunities across the customer lifecycle, including application, settlement, and post‑settlement stages. It also explores the broader economic and consumer harms associated with mortgage fraud, including market distortion, increased credit risk, and the exploitation of vulnerable individuals. The resource aims to support consistent, risk‑based monitoring, timely reporting, and effective prevention and disruption of mortgage fraud by reporting entities.