Mortgage fraudsters are facing a crackdown by the Financial Services Authority, whose head of financial crime warned yesterday that hundreds of cases were in its sights.

Vowing to stamp out the "virus" of criminality which led to higher costs for every homeowner in the land, Philip Robinson told the Financial Times that he was targeting crooks who used "mortgage mules" - people with no property-owning history - to front housing purchases. Dodgy mortgage intermediaries and dishonest valuers would also be tracked down.