Mortgage fraud has quadrupled in value during the first six months of 2010. Surprisingly, it accounts for more than half of all scams committed against the security - laden financial sector.

KPMG’s Fraud Barometer reported 21 cases with a value of 96 million pounds during the first half of the year. The year 2009 saw only 18 cases of fraud with a value of 24 million pounds during the first six months. The Barometer only takes into account cases of fraud with charges of 100,000 pounds or more in the UK courts. It found 166 cases that met this criteria. This is the highest number of cases in a six month time frame since its debut, 22 years ago.

Hitesh Patel, of KPMG Forensics, said: "The fact that increasing amounts of mortgage fraud are being prosecuted is cold comfort for the financial services industry. Clearly, more of it is coming to light and more will follow. It is highly probable the issue is far bigger than our figures demonstrate.

This is a legacy issue for the banks from the pre-recession boom years when house prices inflated, providing the opportunity for fraud. Banks will be hoping that they have uncovered most of their fraudulent loans, but the trend remains upwards and it could be some time before we see the peak."

KPMG also reported, there were more employee cases than management cases, but management frauds had a much greater value. More authority within their respected companies, enabled management to equal 135 million pounds, with employee accounted fraud totaling just 45 million pounds.

The London and South East regions tallied the highest number of frauds - 88 cases with a value of 493 million pounds. The North East was second with 26 cases totaling 43 million pounds.