UK Fraud Spirals Out of Control!

Recent figures indicate the cost of fraud in the UK to be £30bn a year, an increase of £10bn in the last 3 years. The rise in fraudulent activity is expected to continue with no signs of slowdown in the near future. A key problem in this area is the lack of people being caught and dealt with properly by the courts, put simply the deterrents aren't strong enough to prevent the criminally minded attempting and, in increasing numbers, benefiting from their ill-gotten gains.

It was anticipated that the Fraud Act 2006 (designed to make it easier to gain convictions against fraudsters) effective from January 2007 would have an impact on the level of fraud and lead to an increase in successful prosecutions. Figures released by the government this year show that the number of successful fraud convictions has declined from 14,300 in 2007 to 13,200 in 2008. This is hugely disappointing at a time when the growth rate in crime itself is spiralling out of control.

The concern amongst credit managers I speak to is the lack of direct action by the authorities in combating commercial fraud. I believe the government and police must do more to protect legitimate business trade, however past experience has shown that those tasked with dealing with the problem have all too often been under staffed and under resourced. With the proposed reductions in future public sector spending, I fear this trend is set to continue.

The message I would give to business owners is clear; it's down to you to protect your own organistaions! The deterrents currently in place simply aren't strong enough to prevent fraudsters from attacking your business.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8473167.stm