Some £1.5bn was lost to fraud in 2015—more than double that of the previous year. Overall, however, the number of reported frauds fell by 5% to only 519 cases, according to the latest BDO FraudTrack report, which looks at frauds of more than £50,000 in the UK. The average value of fraud was £2.9m.
Most frauds occur in the financial services sector. The biggest increase in terms of value was in third party fraud, such as fake invoices, followed by mortgage fraud and money laundering.
BDO partner and report author, Kaley Crossthwaite, says companies prefer to deal with high value fraud “behind closed doors”, skewing the figures: “Our experience would suggest that both volume and value in real terms continue to rise despite efforts by companies in the sector to strengthen their processes.”
