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Fraud Updates
PCB News
Fraud Updates 2006
16 March
Figures released by accounting firm BDO Stoy Hayward indicate that the rate of fraud has skyrocketed in recent years driven by a huge increase in employee fraud in the financial sector, with the current loss figure for 2005 almost reaching £1bn. This shows an 80% increase from 2004 and almost 200% increase since 2003.
The figures show that employees are not deterred by the threat of criminal proceedings where the average sentence handed down by UK courts for frauds in excess of £1m in 2005 was just four years.
To combat fraud, employers need to put in place effective risk management procedures and where fraud is committed, to recover the monies that have been stolen by the use of civil proceedings that enable assets to be frozen before the fraudster is aware that he is under investigation. This can be done in conjunction with criminal proceedings so that the fraudster both loses his assets and is jailed.
| April 2006 | January 2006 |