Britain: Financial Crime Hit Record Levels in 2010
January 12th, 2011Via: Telegraph:
Financial crime hit record levels in 2010, with the Government overtaking the financial services industry as the main victim, according to the KPMG Fraud Barometer.
Fraud committed by company managers was the fastest growing area, up 30pc in value to £441m against the previous year. Tax fraud, money laundering and complex cases involving new technology all increased in the year. According to KPMG many of the cases were directly linked to the tight economic conditions.
Hitesh Patel, KPMG forensic partner, said: “Government agencies, like commercial businesses, have been increasingly vulnerable to the threat of fraud. In a year of austerity measures implemented by Government, tax increases, rising unemployment, and significant structural change it is hardly surprising that the long fingers of the fraudster have reached into the public purse.”
The total number of fraud cases reported in the UK last year rose 16pc to 315, worth just under £1.4bn, according to the KPMG fraud barometer, which only records cases worth in excess of £100,000 that have been heard or are due to be heard in the High Courts. The real level of fraud, undetected and unprosecuted, is almost certainly a significant multiple of this figure.
The public purse bore the brunt of the cases in 2010, overtaking financial services as the main victim of fraud.
