Rise in professional frauds, says KPMG

JUST over half of fraud cases in the North West during the first six months of 2013 were committed by professional criminals, according to KPMG’s latest Fraud Barometer.

This is up on 2012 when professional criminals were resonsible for around a third of all fraud in the region.

KPMG said this suggested a shift away from the opportunistic and lower-level scams which prevailed last year.

The total value of fraud in the region in the first half was £19.4m, up 65%, but the number of frauds was static at 17.

Eight of these were classed as professional crimes which accounted for 87% of the total value.

This figure strips out the £104m Lexi Holdings property finance fraud which was perpetrated more than seven years ago but led to the conviction of Waheed Luqman in abstentia in January.

Martin Dougall, forensic partner at KPMG in the North West, said: “While the back end of last year saw a resurgence of traditional con artistry, the first half of 2013 saw fraud cases in the region turn a darker corner with professional criminals mobilising to defraud the Government, commercial businesses and financial institutions.

“Given that in 2012 criminals made up a third of recorded frauds, the upward trend demonstrates the need for vigilance, and more sophisticated prevention and detection methods across organisations in the region.”

Cases covered by the report included: Jonathan Nugent who was jailed for four-and-a-half years for carousel fraud and Michael Sibbald who was jailed for three years and four months for defrauding the Learning and Skills Council.