Cost of business fraud 'was £1.37bn' last year

News Article - 04 January 2007
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Businesses paid out £1.37 billion last year in fraud incidents, but the real figure is likely to be around £5 billion if all companies affected by the offence had reported incidents, a study has shown.

Research by BDO Stoy Hayward highlighted a 40 per cent increase in the value of business fraud in 2006, with reported incidents costing £50,000 rising by a third.

With around 15 per cent of businesses reporting fraud attacks to the police, the research suggests that the actual value of such incidents is more like £5 billion, with many occurrences going unreported.

The national head of BDO Stoy Hayward's fraud services team, Simon Bevan, said: "Although fraud against businesses is a rapidly growing crime, the reality is that most business victims do not see the prosecution of fraudsters as a priority."

Companies are more concerned about ensuring that incidents do not take place at the business again and that they are able to recover their lost money, he added.

According to the findings, men were more likely to commit fraud than women, with 82 per cent of cases having being carried out by males.

HW Chartered Accountants states that fraud has become an increasingly widespread threat to both businesses and society as a whole.

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