Fraud in the East Midlands up almost 50% in the last year

The volume of reported fraud cases in the East Midlands rose almost 50% between 2016 and 2017, as fraud records jumped 45.3% from 24 to 35, according to new research published by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO.

BDO’s FraudTrack report, which examines reported fraud cases over £50,000 in the UK, shows that, despite the high volume of fraud in the region, the overall value of reported fraud in the East Midlands decreased 18.9% to £16.9m in 2017 down from £20.8m in 2016.

Some of the East Midlands’ most expensive frauds in 2017 resulted in imprisonment, including a company director from Melton who defrauded investors in his firm out of £3mn, and a corrupt lawyer who was incarcerated for helping an associate launder £2m worth of drug money.

Nationally, the total value and volume of reported fraud in 2017 hit a 15-year high, with the value of fraud increasing 538% to £2.11bn.

BDO’s research reveals that the number of reported fraud cases across the UK has increased exponentially to 577 in 2017 from 212 cases in 2003 – an increase of 172%. The average value of fraud has also risen by 133% to £3.66m from just over £1.5m in 2003.

However, the pace of growth in the value of UK fraud has slowed, increasing by 6.5% to £2.11bn. This is down significantly on the previous year’s increase where the value of reported fraud rose by 31.5% to £1.99bn.

Kaley Crossthwaite, partner and head of fraud and financial crime at BDO, said: “While a significant amount of fraud still goes unreported, our research suggests that people are becoming a lot more courageous in coming forward to report it and recovering their assets through the criminal or civil justice systems. There is now an expectation that fraud will be reported and investigated, both internally by corporations, charities, public sector entities and companies operating within regulated sectors. Stakeholders are seemingly no longer content to simply sweep fraud under the carpet in the hope that it will all go away.”

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