Companies warned about the threat of fraud to their business
COMPANIES in the West Midlands have been warned about the threat of business fraud at a series of seminars.
The events were hosted by Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate & Institutional Banking (RBS CIB) and the West Midlands (WM) Police Economic Crime Unit. Law firm Eversheds also participated.
The message of the events was that fraud remains a huge issue for UK businesses and results in an annual loss of £15.9bn for the private sector.
E-crime, in particular, has become an increasing problem, representing 80% of Action Fraud reports received by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). Cyber-crime, internet enabled fraud as well as online shopping frauds accounts for around 230,335 fraud offences reported to the police and Action Fraud in the first half of 2013.
This represents a 21% increase on 2012 and highlights the urgency in helping businesses to minimise the risk of becoming a victim of fraud.
RBS hosted this most recent seminar at its Birmingham office. The presenters from West Midlands Police covered some of the most common acts of fraud faced by companies, including employee fraud, bribery and corruption, corporate ID Fraud and cyber-crime.
Those attending the event were offered top five tips on how to avoid business fraud:
1. Never action any unsolicited calls/ e-mails from fraudsters asking for electronic banking log-on details;
2. Register with Companies House to receive alerts when changes are made to company data;
3. Always check the authenticity of requests to change bank account details using the known contact details of the beneficiary;
4. Companies need to have sufficient internal systems and controls in place to reduce the risk of fraud being committed from within the organisation; and
5. Companies should ensure that they have adequate procedures designed to prevent a person associated with it from bribing another person.
DI Neil Postins, West Midlands Police Economic Crime Unit, said: “Fraud is a huge issue for companies in the UK and these seminars are a great opportunity to discuss the complexities of fraud offences. It is important for businesses to understand the broad range of risks and threats so that they can be better prepared to prevent fraud, or to deal with it if it occurs.
“As the business landscape constantly evolves with the internet being an ever popular platform for transactions, companies should keep themselves up-to-date with the most common techniques used by fraudsters.”
David Lee, service delivery manager, RBS CIB, added: “RBS was pleased to once again renew our longstanding partnership with the West Midlands Police and to introduce Eversheds to help local businesses in the Birmingham region tackle fraud.”
Organisers said the feedback from each event had been excellent with all participants taking important action. He said organisers looked forward to hosting further events during 2014.
