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The institute of Valuers says its members have been targeted across the country in attempted property valuation frauds similar to the alleged multi-million-dollar scams aimed at banks in Auckland.
The institute says it fears the problem is more widespread than previously thought.
A Herald on Sunday investigation in
the past two weeks revealed that several valuation scams involving at least two groups of alleged fraudsters were believed to be the tip of the iceberg.
Now the valuers' industry body has been told by members in Wellington, Christchurch, Napier and Nelson that their names and documents have been misused to try to convince banks to lend money on over-inflated or fictitious property valuations.
The institute is so worried it has sent a survey to its 3000 members to find out how many have been targeted.
"There seems to be more than what we came up with three weeks ago. It is more widespread," institute president Blue Hancock said. "We have had anecdotal feedback from our members. They are aware that their reports have been altered, using the name of the valuers.
"In Wellington and Christchurch some have come to light, and in a couple of other provincial centres."
The Herald on Sunday has uncovered a number of alleged scams in Auckland involving the misuse of documents to convince banks to lend more money on properties than they normally would.
One alleged fraud involved properties being bought and sold several times within the same group of people, misusing documents to inflate prices - again to convince banks to lend large sums of money.
Millions of dollars are believed to be involved.
Last week the Real Estate Agents Licensing Board suspended five people, including three agents, and Auckland's biggest real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson announced it had sacked four salespeople for alleged misconduct.
The company's director, Peter Thompson, said the alleged scams involved up to 25 people from "across a mixture of industries".
There has been speculation that valuers could be among them.
"There's always that possibility," said Hancock. "We certainly hope not. There are not many industries that there aren't any bad apples."
He would not give out details of how many valuers had been targeted or the values of property involved, saying that would be known when the survey was completed in two weeks.
"It's an evolving process, but hopefully that will mean these dodgy valuations are taken out of the system. As long as we get it out there that it isn't the valuers altering these reports - it's other parties."
Hancock says the 1948 Valuers Act is "well out of date" and the institute is sending a re-written version of it to parliament, hoping it will be tightened up.
The Serious Fraud Office is understood to be investigating the alleged scams in Auckland, although it would "neither confirm nor deny" that any investigation was under way.
