Member Article

Fraud against financial institutions in London and the South East rises by 1285%

Financial institutions across London and the South East have seen the value of their combined losses to fraud increase 1285% compared to the same period last year, a new report suggests.

KPMG’s Fraud Barometer, which measures fraud cases with losses of £100,000 or more reaching the UK courts, has found that the value of fraud increased an average of 503% nationally. The professional services company saw an increase of 22% in the first half of this year to £385m (£317m in the same period last year).

Given that the total number of cases against financial institutions in London and the South East has only risen by 11 to 66, this means the region has followed the nationwide pattern of the value of individual cases increasing.

Chris Wheeler, Director, KPMG Forensic in London and the South East, said: “Over half of the fraud cases reaching courts in London and the South East were committed by employees or management, proving that businesses need to be vigilant even with staff in leadership roles and positions of responsibility.”

Perpetrators were most likely to fall within 46-55 age bracket, which could mean that fraudsters’ daring increases with age and experience, and there were nearly three times as many male perpetrators as female.

Chris continued: “With the region experiencing an increase in total losses of £5,241,500 due to fraud, these figures should serve as a warning and prompt organisations to put robust fraud prevention systems in place if they haven’t already.”

Among the cases to have emerged across London and the South East over the past six months is that of a north London-based bank adviser and her fiancé who stole £123,000 from a customer’s account to pay for cars and jewellery.

Anisyah Ali, 25, was allegedly able to use her position as a personal banker to remove blocks on the account, allowing her to change the customer’s personal details and use them to order a new debit card and PIN code.

In Eastbourne, a financial advisor who stole nearly £1m of his clients’ life savings, was jailed for four years and eight months. John Edward Field, 77, admitted a string of charges which involved 37 victims from the area in a series of fake investment schemes.

Hitesh Patel, UK Forensic Partner at KPMG, said: “Fraudsters in the family are abusing their intimate knowledge and close connections to steal from partners and parents. People are living longer, and we are seeing examples of people who are choosing to remove uncertainties about when or if they will get their inheritance by fraudulent means. It’s also likely these cases are just the tip of the iceberg – frauds of this nature often go unreported as embarrassed victims seek to ‘keep it in the family’ and ‘forgive and forget’.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .