Home loans carry higher dollar values despite fewer incidents, Equifax report reveals
Australian lenders stopped more than $1.5 billion in reported fraudulent financial applications in 2025, according to a new report from Equifax.
The data and analytics firm’s Fraud Index Report for 2025 has revealed a shift in fraud patterns as household budgets tightened, with greater emphasis on first‑party fraud and money muling. It also points to the growing use of artificial intelligence tools that can be used to produce falsified documents.
Equifax linked the rise in first‑party fraud — where applicants alter details on their own credit submissions — to financial pressure. The index recorded a 25.5% year‑on‑year increase.
“We’ve seen a significant spike in loan manipulations,” said Tehani Legeay (pictured right), general manager of digital identity and fraud services at Equifax. “Easy-to-use and inexpensive AI tools can now produce convincing fake documents, which may increase the temptation to falsify information to secure credit, especially amidst heightening economic pressures.”
According to the report, prevention efforts have intensified despite higher volumes of attempts and reported cases.
“While the volume of overall fraudulent attempts and reported instances increased over the past year, it should also be recognised that prevention tactics during this time saved over $1.5 billion worth of fraudulent credit applications,” Legeay said.
“In addition, we’ve observed that while transaction accounts and credit cards saw a higher volume of fraud incidents, mortgage and auto loan categories represent significantly higher dollar amounts. Consequently, preventing fraud in these key categories drives a disproportionately larger share of total savings for our economy.”
Equifax also reported a 90.9% year‑on‑year surge in money mule activity. It revealed that cases can involve people who are drawn in by “easy money” scams or pushed by financial stress into moving funds for criminals. The report added that improved detection may have shifted classification, with incidents previously recorded under other fraud types now being identified as money muling.
The data also showed reported identity takeovers fell by 16.6% while money muling increased. Equifax said some cases once treated as account takeovers now appear to involve the account holder, whether through coercion or complicity.
For the first time in three years, the index indicated that fraud was increasing faster in credit products than in non‑credit products. Equifax recorded a 1.1% fall in non‑credit listings, compared with an 11.1% rise in credit‑related fraud.
The report also cited Equifax Consumer Market Pulse data showing unsecured credit demand rose 6%, while mortgage enquiries increased 12.3% — the strongest growth since 2021.
“The fraud landscape is shifting,” Legeay said. “As more Australians seek credit to manage their financial needs, it creates a larger pool of opportunity for fraud.”
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