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Economy

UK fraud hits 12-year record in 2007

Monday, 04 February 2008

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A finance director of a company in London manipulated the company’s finances to embezzle some £2m which she used to buy a string of properties, luxury cars, and even a £100,000 kitchen which was featured in a glossy magazine.

Other fraudsters were more creative in their efforts, such as the Northern Ireland man who routinely removed barcodes on items in a hardware superstore and replaced them with his own false barcodes so that he paid less then the items were worth.

He then sold the goods on eBay and made an estimated profit of £100,000 before he was finally caught.

Another fraudster was brought to book because he could not resist recording his exploits in a hip-hop video.

The rapper from London incorporated rhyming lyrics in his songs about his involvement in stealing scores of high performance cars and selling them under false identities. The scam was worth over £600,000.

Routine monitoring

While London and the South East was once again the dominant centre for fraud, with some 65 percent by value (£655m) and over 35 percent of the cases (77), other parts of the country also saw significant levels of activity.

There was some £200m of fraud in the North West (30 cases) and £117m was recorded in the Midlands (31 cases).

Patel concluded that companies and individuals need to be more alert than ever to the fraud threat, given the developing economic conditions.

At a company level, they should bolster their routine monitoring and oversight processes with the use of data analytical tools to identify any unusual or suspicious trends.

“As individuals meanwhile, we all need to be vigilant and protect our personal data. The bottom line is that the cost of fraud goes beyond the financial. The emotional and social impacts are often forgotten,” Patel said.

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