West Midlands fraud on the rise
The value of reported fraud in the West Midlands more than doubled in the first half of this year.
There were 17 cases that came before the courts compared to 15 a year before, but the total value was up from £5.1 million to £10.6m, according to analysis from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO.
BDO's 2015 interim Fraudtrack found that UK-wide, fraud values are racing towards £800m – an £80m increase from the same period in 2014. The volume of cases, however, has dropped slightly from 272 in the first half of 2014 to 244.
Average cost per fraud was £3.27m, a 79 per cent increase on the same period 12 months ago (£1.82m), with nearly a third (32 per cent) of cases being committed by employees and costing organisations more than £46m.
The biggest case in the region involved a Birmingham fraudster who stole £4.5m from his employer to fund a gambling addiction. Other major frauds included a Jaguar Land Rover worker caught for stealing £2m worth of car parts and a trio jailed for a £1.5m designer clothes scam.
Sat Plaha, forensic partner at BDO LLP in Birmingham, said: "Despite levels increasing, the true cost of fraud to the region is likely to be even higher with many cases still going unreported.
"Fraud is prevalent across all sectors and is a significant loss to many organisations and individuals. The increased level of reported fraud should be seen as a warning to firms that are still not doing enough to protect themselves from fraudsters."
