Reported fraud rockets to more than £2bn in 2009
BDO predicts fraud will treble in two years.
There was more than £2bn worth of reported fraud in 2009, the first time
reported fraud has broken through the mark.
The sum increased by 76% with both the number and size of frauds increasing
dramatically, according to BDO’s Fraudtrack survey.
BDO predicts that, though shocking, the fraud figure is likely to keep rising
– perhaps as high as £5bn a year.
Simon Bevan, BDO’s head of fraud, said: “2009 saw the steepest increase since
our report began seven years ago, with the average value of each fraud now over
£5m compared to £1.8m in 2003.”
Bevan believes that reported fraud will treble over the next two years and
that it will be driven by fraudulent borrowing, particularly through the use of
overvalued property as security for loans.
“Currently, many of these frauds are yet to be recognised by the banks, which
still have them classified as non-performing loans,” said Bevan.
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