Fraud levels rocket in Scotland and across UK
2 Jul 09
Scotland has seen a 450 per cent increase in reported cases of business fraud during the first six months of 2009, compared with the same period last year, according to BDO Stoy Hayward
Reported fraud between January and June 2009 totalled more than £10m, compared with the figure of £1,854,000 released by the accountants and business advisers in July 2008.
Moreover, the £10m figure is double the amount reported in Scotland during the whole of 2008 (£5,112,000).
Worryingly, BDO Stoy Hayward suggests actual levels of fraud could eclipse this.
Judith Scott, pictured above, director of forensic accounting at BDO Stoy Hayward in Scotland, said: “It is important to note we are dealing with reported fraud here. Victims of fraud primarily focus on recovering assets, preventing future fraud and, most pertinently, minimising publicity.
“We warned business at the tail-end of last year that there would be a marked increase in fraud due to the onset of the current economic crisis, but the leap in cases is staggering.
“We are a long way from the bottom, from a fraud point of view. A trebling of total fraud figures in the UK is predicted during the course of the recession, but this new data shows we are already experiencing a five fold year-on-year increase north of the Border.
“Mortgage frauds, where there is an over valuation of property prices, have been exposed by the recession, while there is a whole wave on commercial lending fraud that is crashing around the ears of the banks. The finance and insurance sectors continue to suffer, while retail fraud and counterfeiting has also become prevalent.”
Scottish figures mirror those observed across the UK, where a total of £960m worth of fraud has been reported in the first six months of the year. London and the South East remain hardest hit by fraudsters, but the North East of England was also the scene of substantial increases.