Fraud cases fall in Yorkshire

FRAUD cases in Yorkshire have fallen in the first half of the year, which also saw a drop in the value of offences.

KPMG’s Fraud Barometer, which measures fraud cases with losses of £100,000 or more reaching the UK courts, shows that the number of cases has fallen by more than a third (37%) during the first six months of 2016, compared to the corresponding period in 2015 (from 19 to 12).

The research also found an 84% year-on-year decrease in the value of fraudulent activity passing through the region’s courts in the first half of 2016, down from £41m in H1 2015.

However, last year’s figures were skewed by a sizeable £30m fraud at York Crown Court involving websites mimicking official government sites and tricking people into unnecessarily paying for services. Discounting the case as an anomaly, the value of frauds still fell from £11m to £6.4m.

Incidents of fraud committed by professional criminals and by management teams both halved year-on-year for the period.

Vivien Hopkins, forensic director at KPMG in Leeds, said: “Yorkshire appears to have got tough on fraud and has helped see a decline in activity – possibly due to a greater awareness of the crime and better understanding of how to detect and prevent offences. However, there are still many businesses and vulnerable people suffering from fraud across the region and we must not become complacent.”

Notable cases coming to court in Yorkshire during the first half of 2016, include:
 
Leeds
A former supermarket boss who has been ordered to pay back the £180,000 he stole from the firm’s charity fund or face longer behind bars. The individual, who was paid a salary of £160,000 a year, persuaded company directors to sign blank cheques, claiming he was due to meet Prince Charles in a bid to help flood victims.

Bradford
Two former business managers at a Bradford bank have been jailed after a complex police investigation into a sophisticated fraud conspiracy. The plot, which could have netted the criminals up to £500,000, involved the authorisation of bogus business loans and the use of stolen identities of innocent people.

York
A college administrator who embezzled around half a million pounds has been jailed for three years and eight months. Over at least four years, the administrator diverted funds intended to pay for child care for students taking up places at one of the region’s largest colleges.

Bradford
A ‘greedy’ grandmother, who fleeced her employers out of tens of thousands of pounds over nearly a decade, has been jailed. The company secretary used her position of trust to steal almost £165,000, a move that weakened the Bradford family business and meant its 100 employees missed out on a pay rise.
Commercial businesses were victims of fraud to the tune of £95m in the first half of the year with SME businesses particularly vulnerable.