Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures published last week show 951 of these were employee frauds and 170 were procurement frauds.
Sean Curran, partner at Arnold & Porter (London), said: ‘Several factors have contributed to this rise, particularly in respect of corporate employee fraud, including the unfortunate cocktail of geopolitical instability, the cost-of-living crisis, and ongoing post-pandemic strains.
‘In addition, a significant portion of the workforce continues to work from home, with insufficient controls and measures to detect fraudulent conduct outside of the office. It is clear that businesses need to work faster and more effectively to deploy robust and responsive anti-fraud measures, particularly in light of the Economic Crime and Transparency Bill which is likely to impose a “failure to prevent fraud” offence on companies in the upcoming months.’
The ONS figures also showed timeshare and holiday club fraud more than doubled.
