Reported fraud for the whole of last year was a staggering £1.2 billion yet that figure has nearly been reached in only the first six months of the year. Figures show fraud to June costing the country £960 million. The total number of fraud cases has jumped by a third.
Simon Bevan, head of the fraud services team at BDO Stoy Hayward, said: “From a fraud point of view we are a long way from bottom. It is extremely likely that the total fraud figures will treble during the course of the recession.
"There is a whole wave of commercial lending fraud that is yet to crash around the ears of UK and overseas banks."
Bevan predicts frightening fraud levels of £3 billion per annum: “It is no surprise to see that reported mortgage fraud has rocketed or that management ‘cooking the books’ has risen by nearly 50%.”
Of particular interest are mortgage and procurement frauds. Bevan states that what a lot of these mortgage frauds have in common is the over valuation of property prices which has been exposed in the recession. "I am not at all surprised that real estate fraud is now at £97 million. What really surprises me is that the figure is so low. We know from experience that banks, property companies, housing associations etc that are hit by property frauds are very unlikely to go to the criminal courts.”
