Property hijacking, involving fraudsters taking on the identity of the owner and selling the property without the owner’s knowledge, is on the rise.
The value of such fraud reached £24.9m in the year to April, up sharply from £7.2m in 2013, figures from the Land Registry show.
Since September 2009 its counter-fraud unit has prevented fraud in 254 cases, representing houses with a value of more than £117m.
