Brokers can do a better job of detecting mortgage fraud by getting to know customers more closely.

Genworth's financial chief risk officer Paul Caputo said some of the fraud the mortgage insurer sees is "very sophisticated" and would be impossible for a broker to identify.

However, speaking with Australian BrokerNews, Caputo said the vast majority could be detected through common sense and going through the documentation supplied in the application.

"Whether it be things like looking through the bank statements, looking for things like the spelling of 'credit' which we see is often spelt wrong; these are obvious things that should raise alarm bells. Even looking through payslips and questioning, 'should a shop assistant really be earning $150,000 a year?'.

Caputo said that brokers can identify potential cases of fraud by looking at account details, and seeing if there is both salary going in and expenses going out.

"Often you'll find salary going in but no expenses going out, so how are they surviving, if all their salary is going into one account but they're not taking any money out?," he said.

Caputo said some fraud is more sophisticated - such as identity fraud - where checking passport numbers can help, though he said this goes beyond the role of a mortgage broker.