NW backs trend of soaring fraud

THE North West has bucked a national trend of soaring fraud.

Reported fraud in the region in the first six months fell to £34m, against £47m in the first half of last year, in contrast to the national picture where in the six months to June fraudulent activity stood at £960m – not far off from the entire 2008 total of £1.2bn

BDO Stoy Hayward’s six monthly update to their annual fraud report said despite the fall in the North West, the region is still the third worst region in the UK, behind the South East (£768m) and North East £95m.

Nationally, the total number of fraud cases has jumped by a third.

 Alex Marsden, forensic accounting partner at BDO Stoy Hayward in Manchester  said: “From a fraud point of view we expect that we have not seen the worst. It is extremely likely that the total fraud figures will increase significantly if the recession deepens.”

Across the UK, the finance and insurance sectors suffered £657m of fraud in the first six months.