More than half of identity verification checks in the UK property sector are still conducted manually, leaving agencies exposed to sophisticated fraud techniques, according to new research.
A survey of 1,000 decision-makers across property, finance, legal and accounting sectors by anti-money laundering firm SmartSearch found that 54% of identity verification checks were conducted manually, with only 46% using digital methods.
Rising fraud concerns
The findings come amid growing concerns about fraud in the property sector. A separate survey last year by digital identity verification provider Credas found that 70% of 250 estate agents surveyed had witnessed an increase in fraud cases, with over half (52%) encountering fake identification documents.
Collette Smith, Chief Customer Officer at SmartSearch, stated: “Manual processes can’t scale to catch the volume and sophistication of modern fraud. Visual inspection doesn’t detect pixel-level document forgery.”
Smith questioned whether traditional processes could identify threats such as AI-generated identities, deepfake documents, and synthetic profiles that may pass conventional checks.
Regulatory obligations
The research highlighted the gap between current practices and emerging fraud techniques. “Businesses have a responsibility, and a regulatory obligation, to ensure that the accounts facilitating these scams don’t exist in the first place,” Smith said.
The Credas survey also revealed that fraud prevention had overtaken customer experience as estate agents’ primary operational concern, reflecting the increasing pressure on agencies to strengthen verification processes.
Industry implications
The data suggests a significant portion of the property sector may be vulnerable to modern fraud techniques that manual verification processes are not equipped to detect. While the Financial Ombudsman Service has urged consumers to verify transactions before transferring money, industry figures argue that prevention systems need to be strengthened at the business level.
The findings indicate that nearly half of the property sector has yet to adopt digital identity verification methods, despite the documented rise in sophisticated fraud attempts targeting the industry.
